Celiac Disease Presenting as Fever of Unknown Origin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan J. Cooney

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Celiac disease (CD is a common autoimmune enteropathy that occurs, in affected individuals, with exposure to gluten in the diet and improves with removal of dietary gluten. Although CD is readily considered in patients with classical presentations of the disease, atypical manifestations may be the only presenting symptoms. We present a case of CD in a 16-year-old female presenting as fever of unknown origin, which has not been reported previously. The postulated mechanism for fever in CD and the importance of clinicians having a low threshold for considering CD in the differential diagnosis of fever of unknown origin and other enigmatic clinical presentations is discussed.

Grasping Unknown Objects in an Early Cognitive Vision System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Popovic, Mila

2011-01-01

Grasping of unknown objects presents an important and challenging part of robot manipulation. The growing area of service robotics depends upon the ability of robots to autonomously grasp and manipulate a wide range of objects in everyday environments. Simple, non task-specific grasps of unknown ...... and comparing vision-based grasping methods, and the creation of algorithms for bootstrapping a process of acquiring world understanding for artificial cognitive agents....... presents a system for robotic grasping of unknown objects us- ing stereo vision. Grasps are defined based on contour and surface information provided by the Early Cognitive Vision System, that organizes visual informa- tion into a biologically motivated hierarchical representation. The contributions...... of the thesis are: the extension of the Early Cognitive Vision representation with a new type of feature hierarchy in the texture domain, the definition and evaluation of contour based grasping methods, the definition and evaluation of surface based grasping methods, the definition of a benchmark for testing...

Chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology and ground-water ionicity: study based on Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Dharma-Wardana, M W C; Amarasiri, Sarath L; Dharmawardene, Nande; Panabokke, C R

2015-04-01

High incidence of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDU) in Sri Lanka is shown to correlate with the presence of irrigation works and rivers that bring-in 'nonpoint source' fertilizer runoff from intensely agricultural regions. We review previous attempts to link CKDU with As, Cd and other standard toxins. Those studies (e.g. the WHO-sponsored study), while providing a wealth of data, are inconclusive in regard to aetiology. Here, we present new proposals based on increased ionicity of drinking water due to fertilizer runoff into the river system, redox processes in the soil and features of 'tank'-cascades and aquifers. The consequent chronic exposure to high ionicity in drinking water is proposed to debilitate the kidney via a Hofmeister-type (i.e. protein-denaturing) mechanism.

Comparative study of methods for recognition of an unknown person's action from a video sequence

Science.gov (United States)

Hori, Takayuki; Ohya, Jun; Kurumisawa, Jun

2009-02-01

This paper proposes a Tensor Decomposition Based method that can recognize an unknown person's action from a video sequence, where the unknown person is not included in the database (tensor) used for the recognition. The tensor consists of persons, actions and time-series image features. For the observed unknown person's action, one of the actions stored in the tensor is assumed. Using the motion signature obtained from the assumption, the unknown person's actions are synthesized. The actions of one of the persons in the tensor are replaced by the synthesized actions. Then, the core tensor for the replaced tensor is computed. This process is repeated for the actions and persons. For each iteration, the difference between the replaced and original core tensors is computed. The assumption that gives the minimal difference is the action recognition result. For the time-series image features to be stored in the tensor and to be extracted from the observed video sequence, the human body silhouette's contour shape based feature is used. To show the validity of our proposed method, our proposed method is experimentally compared with Nearest Neighbor rule and Principal Component analysis based method. Experiments using 33 persons' seven kinds of action show that our proposed method achieves better recognition accuracies for the seven actions than the other methods.

The unknown-unknowns: Revealing the hidden insights in massive biomedical data using combined artificial intelligence and knowledge networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris Yoo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Genomic data is estimated to be doubling every seven months with over 2 trillion bases from whole genome sequence studies deposited in Genbank in just the last 15 years alone. Recent advances in compute and storage have enabled the use of artificial intelligence techniques in areas such as feature recognition in digital pathology and chemical synthesis for drug development. To apply A.I. productively to multidimensional data such as cellular processes and their dysregulation, the data must be transformed into a structured format, using prior knowledge to create contextual relationships and hierarchies upon which computational analysis can be performed. Here we present the organization of complex data into hypergraphs that facilitate the application of A.I. We provide an example use case of a hypergraph containing hundreds of biological data values and the results of several classes of A.I. algorithms applied in a popular compute cloud. While multiple, biologically insightful correlations between disease states, behavior, and molecular features were identified, the insights of scientific import were revealed only when exploration of the data included visualization of subgraphs of represented knowledge. The results suggest that while machine learning can identify known correlations and suggest testable ones, the greater probability of discovering unexpected relationships between seemingly independent variables (unknown-unknowns requires a context-aware system – hypergraphs that impart biological meaning in nodes and edges. We discuss the implications of a combined hypergraph-A.I. analysis approach to multidimensional data and the pre-processing requirements for such a system.

Effects of unknown fermion generations on the msub(w),msub(z) interdependence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolini, S.; Sirlin, A.

1984-01-01

The effect of unknown fermion generation of the msub(w), msub(z) interdependence is analyzed. It is shown that an additional fermion generation can increase the quantum correction Δr and, therefore, the predicted mass difference msub(z)-msub(w) for given msub(z), but such positive contributions are bounded above by small quantities. In particular, as previously pointed out by Veltman, massive degenerate fermions do not fully decouple but lead to small positive corrections. On the other hand, it is known that significant negative contributions to Δr and msub(z)-msub(w) can arise from exotic values for the mass of the top quark and the isodoublet splittings in higher generations. A method of obtaining information about such masses when msub(w) and msub(z) become precisely known is discussed. The analytic methods of obtaining the general features of the corrections, for essentially arbitrary fermion masses, exploit the convexity properties of elementary functions. (orig.)

An illustrated key to the Saudi Arabian species of the genus Macroocula Panfilov, 1954, with the description of a new species and the previously unknown female of M. andreai Pagliano (Hymenoptera, Bradynobaenidae, Apterogyninae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed M. Soliman

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The Saudi Arabian species of the genus Macroocula Panfilov (Bradynobaenidae, Apterogyninae are keyed and illustrated. Eleven species were previously recorded from Arabian fauna: M. andreai Pagliano (♂, M. atuberculata Soliman & Gadallah (♂, M. khorimensis Soliman & Gadallah (♂, M. magna (Invrea (♀, M. mahunkai (Argaman (♂, M. nitida (Bischoff (♂, ♀, M. ohli Pagliano (♂, M. riyadha Gadallah & Pagliano (♂, M. savignyi (Klug (♂, ♀, M. sinaica (Invrea (♂ and M. zulfiensis Soliman & Gadallah (♂. A new species, Macroocula asirensis Gadallah & Soliman, sp. n. (♂ from Saloos Al-Manzar, Wadi Yebah and Wadi Targ (Asir region and the previously unknown female of M. andreai from Wadi Reem (Jazan region are described and illustrated.

Automatically measuring the effect of strategy drawing features on pupils' handwriting and gender

Science.gov (United States)

Tabatabaey-Mashadi, Narges; Sudirman, Rubita; Guest, Richard M.; Khalid, Puspa Inayat

2013-12-01

Children's dynamic drawing strategies have been recently recognized as indicators of handwriting ability. However the influence of each feature in predicting handwriting is unknown due to lack of a measuring system. An automated measuring algorithm suitable for psychological assessment and non-subjective scoring is presented here. Using the weight vector and classification rate of a machine learning algorithm, an overall feature's effect is calculated which is comparable in different groupings. In this study thirteen previously detected drawing strategy features are measured for their influence on handwriting and gender. Features are extracted from drawing a triangle, Beery VMI and Bender Gestalt tangent patterns. Samples are related to 203 pupils (77 below average writers, and 101 female). The results show that the number of strokes in drawing the triangle pattern plays a major role in both groupings; however Left Tendency flag feature is affected by children's handwriting about 2.5 times greater than their gender. Experiments indicate that different forms of a feature sometimes show different influences.

Previously unknown evolutionary groups dominate the ssDNA gokushoviruses in oxic and anoxic waters of a coastal marine environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica M. Labonté

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Metagenomic studies have revealed that ssDNA phages from the family Microviridae subfamily Gokushovirinae are widespread in aquatic ecosystems. It is hypothesized that gokushoviruses occupy specialized niches, resulting in differences among genotypes traversing water column gradients. Here, we use degenerate primers that amplify a fragment of the gene encoding the major capsid protein to examine the diversity of gokushoviruses in Saanich Inlet, a seasonally anoxic fjord on the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Amplicon sequencing of samples from the mixed oxic surface (10 m and deeper anoxic (200 m layers indicated a diverse assemblage of gokushoviruses, with greater richness at 10 m than 200 m. A comparison of amplicon sequences with sequences selected on the basis of RFLP patterns from eight surface samples collected over a one-year period revealed that gokushovirus diversity was higher in spring and summer during stratification, and lower in fall and winter after deep-water renewal, consistent with seasonal variability within gokushovirus populations. Phylogenetic analysis of clustered amplicons revealed at least five new phylogenetic clades of previously unknown sequences, with the most abundant group associated with viruses that infect SUP05, a ubiquitous and abundant member of marine oxygen minimum zones. Our results provide persuasive evidence that, while specific gokushovirus genotypes may have a narrow host range, hosts for gokushoviruses in Saanich Inlet consist of a wide range of bacterial taxa, including SUP05, a taxonomic clade of gamma proteobacterial sulfur oxidizers. Members of SUP05 are abundant in Saanich Inlet and involved in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling along the redoxline; thus, gokushoviruses are likely important mortality agents of these bacteria and have consequent influences on biogeochemical cycling in this system.

Sudden unexpected death in children with a previously diagnosed cardiovascular disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Polderman, Florens N.; Cohen, Joeri; Blom, Nico A.; Delhaas, Tammo; Helbing, Wim A.; Lam, Jan; Sobotka-Plojhar, Marta A.; Temmerman, Arno M.; Sreeram, Narayanswani

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND: It is known that children with previously diagnosed heart defects die suddenly. The causes of death are often unknown. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify all infants and children within the Netherlands with previously diagnosed heart disease who had a sudden unexpected death

Sudden unexpected death in children with a previously diagnosed cardiovascular disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Polderman, F.N.; Cohen, Joeri; Blom, N.A.; Delhaas, T.; Helbing, W.A.; Lam, J.; Sobotka-Plojhar, M.A.; Temmerman, Arno M.; Sreeram, N.

2004-01-01

Background: It is known that children with previously diagnosed heart defects die suddenly. The causes of death are often unknown. Objective: The aim of the study was to identify all infants and children within the Netherlands with previously diagnosed heart disease who had a sudden unexpected death

Quantum key distribution with an unknown and untrusted source

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yi; Qi, Bing; Lo, Hoi-Kwong

2009-03-01

The security of a standard bi-directional ``plug & play'' quantum key distribution (QKD) system has been an open question for a long time. This is mainly because its source is equivalently controlled by an eavesdropper, which means the source is unknown and untrusted. Qualitative discussion on this subject has been made previously. In this paper, we present the first quantitative security analysis on a general class of QKD protocols whose sources are unknown and untrusted. The securities of standard BB84 protocol, weak+vacuum decoy state protocol, and one-decoy decoy state protocol, with unknown and untrusted sources are rigorously proved. We derive rigorous lower bounds to the secure key generation rates of the above three protocols. Our numerical simulation results show that QKD with an untrusted source gives a key generation rate that is close to that with a trusted source. Our work is published in [1]. [4pt] [1] Y. Zhao, B. Qi, and H.-K. Lo, Phys. Rev. A, 77:052327 (2008).

Learning probabilistic features for robotic navigation using laser sensors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fidel Aznar

Full Text Available SLAM is a popular task used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build a map of an unknown environment and, at the same time, to determine their location within the map. This paper describes a SLAM-based, probabilistic robotic system able to learn the essential features of different parts of its environment. Some previous SLAM implementations had computational complexities ranging from O(Nlog(N to O(N(2, where N is the number of map features. Unlike these methods, our approach reduces the computational complexity to O(N by using a model to fuse the information from the sensors after applying the Bayesian paradigm. Once the training process is completed, the robot identifies and locates those areas that potentially match the sections that have been previously learned. After the training, the robot navigates and extracts a three-dimensional map of the environment using a single laser sensor. Thus, it perceives different sections of its world. In addition, in order to make our system able to be used in a low-cost robot, low-complexity algorithms that can be easily implemented on embedded processors or microcontrollers are used.

Learning probabilistic features for robotic navigation using laser sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Aznar, Fidel; Pujol, Francisco A; Pujol, Mar; Rizo, Ramón; Pujol, María-José

2014-01-01

SLAM is a popular task used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build a map of an unknown environment and, at the same time, to determine their location within the map. This paper describes a SLAM-based, probabilistic robotic system able to learn the essential features of different parts of its environment. Some previous SLAM implementations had computational complexities ranging from O(Nlog(N)) to O(N(2)), where N is the number of map features. Unlike these methods, our approach reduces the computational complexity to O(N) by using a model to fuse the information from the sensors after applying the Bayesian paradigm. Once the training process is completed, the robot identifies and locates those areas that potentially match the sections that have been previously learned. After the training, the robot navigates and extracts a three-dimensional map of the environment using a single laser sensor. Thus, it perceives different sections of its world. In addition, in order to make our system able to be used in a low-cost robot, low-complexity algorithms that can be easily implemented on embedded processors or microcontrollers are used.

Discovery of an Important Previously Unknown Longitudinal Wave.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Orvin

2002-03-01

In 1988 a new species of longitudinal sound like wave was identified in this laboratory. These waves travel through (dark matter filled) vacuum as well as through ordinary matter. So far as is known these waves always appear as standing waves. The data suggest that they organize plants, organize structures in manipulated granular materials, organize planetary systems, and other structures of the universe. They are likely the basis for the beginnings of life and are closely associated with quantum waves. The repeating structures that they produce suggest that they are a basis for fractal structures. Their velocities appear to be a function of the medium as well as the timing of their sources since quantized velocities have been found. 12 years of data collected in this laboratory suggest that the waves are all pervading but they still interact with ordinary matter. These waves apparently provide for the stability of the solar system and probably the whole universe. They interact with gravity within plants, for example, to provide a basis for a plant's response to gravity. See the Wagner web site.

Optimal unambiguous comparison of two unknown squeezed vacua

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olivares, Stefano; Paris, Matteo G. A.; Sedlak, Michal; Rapsan, Peter; Busek, Vladimir

2011-01-01

We propose a scheme for the unambiguous state comparison (USC) of two unknown squeezed vacuum states of the electromagnetic field. Our setup is based on linear optical elements and photon-number detectors, and it achieves optimal USC in an ideal case of unit quantum efficiency. In realistic conditions, i.e., for nonunit quantum efficiency of photodetectors, we evaluate the probability of getting an ambiguous result as well as the reliability of the scheme, thus showing its robustness in comparison to previous proposals.

Neurological Autoantibody Prevalence in Epilepsy of Unknown Etiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubey, Divyanshu; Alqallaf, Abdulradha; Hays, Ryan; Freeman, Matthew; Chen, Kevin; Ding, Kan; Agostini, Mark; Vernino, Steven

2017-04-01

autoimmune cause of epilepsy were seen in 23 patients (20.5%). Certain clinical features, such as autonomic dysfunction, neuropsychiatric changes, viral prodrome, faciobrachial dystonic spells or facial dyskinesias, and mesial temporal sclerosis abnormality on magnetic resonance imaging, correlated with seropositivity. The APE score was a useful tool in predicting positive serologic findings. Patients who were Ab positive were more likely to have good seizure outcome than were patients with epilepsy of unknown etiology (15 of 23 [65.2%] vs 24 of 89 [27.0%]; odds ratio, 4.8; 95% CI, 1.8-12.9; P = .002). In patients who were seropositive, reduction in seizure frequency was associated with use of immunomodulatory therapy. Among adult patients with epilepsy of unknown etiology, a significant minority had detectable serum Abs suggesting an autoimmune etiology. Certain clinical features (encoded in the APE score) could be used to identify patients with the highest probability of harboring neurological Abs.

A modular CUDA-based framework for scale-space feature detection in video streams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinsner, M; Capson, D; Spence, A

2010-01-01

Multi-scale image processing techniques enable extraction of features where the size of a feature is either unknown or changing, but the requirement to process image data at multiple scale levels imposes a substantial computational load. This paper describes the architecture and emerging results from the implementation of a GPGPU-accelerated scale-space feature detection framework for video processing. A discrete scale-space representation is generated for image frames within a video stream, and multi-scale feature detection metrics are applied to detect ridges and Gaussian blobs at video frame rates. A modular structure is adopted, in which common feature extraction tasks such as non-maximum suppression and local extrema search may be reused across a variety of feature detectors. Extraction of ridge and blob features is achieved at faster than 15 frames per second on video sequences from a machine vision system, utilizing an NVIDIA GTX 480 graphics card. By design, the framework is easily extended to additional feature classes through the inclusion of feature metrics to be applied to the scale-space representation, and using common post-processing modules to reduce the required CPU workload. The framework is scalable across multiple and more capable GPUs, and enables previously intractable image processing at video frame rates using commodity computational hardware.

Systemic connective tissue features in women with fibromuscular dysplasia.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Sarah; Kim, Esther Sh; Brinza, Ellen; Moran, Rocio; Fendrikova-Mahlay, Natalia; Wolski, Kathy; Gornik, Heather L

2015-10-01

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-atherosclerotic disease associated with hypertension, headache, dissection, stroke, and aneurysm. The etiology is unknown but hypothesized to involve genetic and environmental components. Previous studies suggest a possible overlap of FMD with other connective tissue diseases that present with dissections and aneurysms. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of connective tissue physical features in FMD. A total of 142 FMD patients were consecutively enrolled at a single referral center (97.9% female, 92.1% of whom had multifocal FMD). Data are reported for 139 female patients. Moderately severe myopia (29.1%), high palate (33.1%), dental crowding (29.7%), and early-onset arthritis (15.6%) were prevalent features. Classic connective features such as hypertelorism, cleft palate, and hypermobility were uncommon. The frequency of systemic connective tissue features was compared between FMD patients with a high vascular risk profile (having had ⩾1 dissection and/or ⩾2 aneurysms) and those with a standard vascular risk profile. A history of spontaneous pneumothorax (5.9% high risk vs 0% standard risk) and atrophic scarring (17.6% high risk vs 6.8% standard risk) were significantly more prevalent in the high risk group, pconnective tissue features such as high palate and pneumothorax were more prominent among FMD patients with a high vascular risk profile. © The Author(s) 2015.

Financial Development and Economic Growth: Known Knowns, Known Unknowns, and Unknown Unknowns

OpenAIRE

Ugo Panizza

2014-01-01

This paper summarizes the main findings of the literature on the relationship between financial and economic development (the known knowns), points to directions for future research (the known unknowns), and then speculates on the third Rumsfeldian category. The known knowns section organizes the empirical literature on finance and growth into three strands: (i) the traditional literature which established the link between finance and growth; (ii) the new literature which qualified some of th...

Structure Elucidation of Unknown Metabolites in Metabolomics by Combined NMR and MS/MS Prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Boiteau, Rene M; Hoyt, David W; Nicora, Carrie D; Kinmonth-Schultz, Hannah A; Ward, Joy K; Bingol, Kerem

2018-01-17

We introduce a cheminformatics approach that combines highly selective and orthogonal structure elucidation parameters; accurate mass, MS/MS (MS²), and NMR into a single analysis platform to accurately identify unknown metabolites in untargeted studies. The approach starts with an unknown LC-MS feature, and then combines the experimental MS/MS and NMR information of the unknown to effectively filter out the false positive candidate structures based on their predicted MS/MS and NMR spectra. We demonstrate the approach on a model mixture, and then we identify an uncatalogued secondary metabolite in Arabidopsis thaliana . The NMR/MS² approach is well suited to the discovery of new metabolites in plant extracts, microbes, soils, dissolved organic matter, food extracts, biofuels, and biomedical samples, facilitating the identification of metabolites that are not present in experimental NMR and MS metabolomics databases.

Females use self-referent cues to avoid mating with previous mates

OpenAIRE

Ivy, Tracie M; Weddle, Carie B; Sakaluk, Scott K

2005-01-01

Females of many species mate repeatedly throughout their lives, often with many different males (polyandry). Females can secure genetic benefits by maximizing their diversity of mating partners, and might be expected, therefore, to forego matings with previous partners in favour of novel males. Indeed, a female preference for novel mating partners has been shown in several taxa, but the mechanism by which females distinguish between novel males and previous mates remains unknown. We show that...

A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dutilh, Bas E; Cassman, Noriko; McNair, Katelyn; Sanchez, Savannah E; Silva, Genivaldo G Z; Boling, Lance; Barr, Jeremy J; Speth, Daan R; Seguritan, Victor; Aziz, Ramy K; Felts, Ben; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A; Mokili, John L; Edwards, Robert A

2014-01-01

Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the

Long-lasting modulation of feature integration by transcranial magnetic stimulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scharnowski, Frank; Rueter, Johannes; Jolij, Jacob; Hermens, Frouke; Kammer, Thomas; Herzog, Michael H.

The human brain analyzes a visual object first by basic feature detectors. On the objects way to a conscious percept, these features are integrated in subsequent stages of the visual hierarchy. The time course of this feature integration is largely unknown. To shed light on the temporal dynamics of

Long-lasting modulation of feature integration by transcranial magnetic stimulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scharnowski, Frank; Rueter, Johannes; Jolij, Jacob; Hermens, Frouke; Kammer, Thomas; Herzog, Michael H.

2009-01-01

The human brain analyzes a visual object first by basic feature detectors. On the objects way to a conscious percept, these features are integrated in subsequent stages of the visual hierarchy. The time course of this feature integration is largely unknown. To shed light on the temporal dynamics of

Identification of balanced chromosomal rearrangements previously unknown among participants in the 1000 Genomes Project: implications for interpretation of structural variation in genomes and the future of clinical cytogenetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Zirui; Wang, Huilin; Chen, Haixiao; Jiang, Hui; Yuan, Jianying; Yang, Zhenjun; Wang, Wen-Jing; Xu, Fengping; Guo, Xiaosen; Cao, Ye; Zhu, Zhenzhen; Geng, Chunyu; Cheung, Wan Chee; Kwok, Yvonne K; Yang, Huanming; Leung, Tak Yeung; Morton, Cynthia C; Cheung, Sau Wai; Choy, Kwong Wai

2017-11-02

PurposeRecent studies demonstrate that whole-genome sequencing enables detection of cryptic rearrangements in apparently balanced chromosomal rearrangements (also known as balanced chromosomal abnormalities, BCAs) previously identified by conventional cytogenetic methods. We aimed to assess our analytical tool for detecting BCAs in the 1000 Genomes Project without knowing which bands were affected.MethodsThe 1000 Genomes Project provides an unprecedented integrated map of structural variants in phenotypically normal subjects, but there is no information on potential inclusion of subjects with apparent BCAs akin to those traditionally detected in diagnostic cytogenetics laboratories. We applied our analytical tool to 1,166 genomes from the 1000 Genomes Project with sufficient physical coverage (8.25-fold).ResultsWith this approach, we detected four reciprocal balanced translocations and four inversions, ranging in size from 57.9 kb to 13.3 Mb, all of which were confirmed by cytogenetic methods and polymerase chain reaction studies. One of these DNAs has a subtle translocation that is not readily identified by chromosome analysis because of the similarity of the banding patterns and size of exchanged segments, and another results in disruption of all transcripts of an OMIM gene.ConclusionOur study demonstrates the extension of utilizing low-pass whole-genome sequencing for unbiased detection of BCAs including translocations and inversions previously unknown in the 1000 Genomes Project.GENETICS in MEDICINE advance online publication, 2 November 2017; doi:10.1038/gim.2017.170.

Designing towards the unknown

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilde, Danielle; Underwood, Jenny

2018-01-01

the research potential to far-ranging possibilities. In this article we unpack the motivations driving the PKI project. We present our mixed-methodology, which entangles textile crafts, design interactions and materiality to shape an embodied enquiry. Our research outcomes are procedural and methodological......New materials with new capabilities demand new ways of approaching design. Destabilising existing methods is crucial to develop new methods. Yet, radical destabilisation—where outcomes remain unknown long enough that new discoveries become possible—is not easy in technology design where complex......, to design towards unknown outcomes, using unknown materials. The impossibility of this task is proving as useful as it is disruptive. At its most potent, it is destabilising expectations, aesthetics and processes. Keeping the researchers, collaborators and participants in a state of unknowing, is opening...

Recension: Mao - The Unknown Story

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Søren

2005-01-01

Anmeldelse - kritisk! - til Sveriges førende Kinatidsskrift af Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's sensationelle "Mao - the Unknown Story".......Anmeldelse - kritisk! - til Sveriges førende Kinatidsskrift af Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's sensationelle "Mao - the Unknown Story"....

The contribution of local features to familiarity judgments in music.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigand, Emmanuel; Gérard, Yannick; Molin, Paul

2009-07-01

The contributions of local and global features to object identification depend upon the context. For example, while local features play an essential role in identification of words and objects, the global features are more influential in face recognition. In order to evaluate the respective strengths of local and global features for face recognition, researchers usually ask participants to recognize human faces (famous or learned) in normal and scrambled pictures. In this paper, we address a similar issue in music. We present the results of an experiment in which musically untrained participants were asked to differentiate famous from unknown musical excerpts that were presented in normal or scrambled ways. Manipulating the size of the temporal window on which the scrambling procedure was applied allowed us to evaluate the minimal length of time necessary for participants to make a familiarity judgment. Quite surprisingly, the minimum duration for differentiation of famous from unknown pieces is extremely short. This finding highlights the contribution of very local features to music memory.

[Specific features of surgical anatomy of the subhyoid region with special reference to tracheostomy].

Science.gov (United States)

Chernykh, A V; Mashkova, T A; Nerovnyĭ, A I; Maleev, Iu V

2010-01-01

Peculiarities of thyroid gland linear dimensions, volume, shape, and topographical features were investigated using the morphological material obtained from 426 human corpses of either gender with a view to using this information for planning and performing tracheostomy in residents of the Central Chernozem region, Russia. The study yielded new data on surgical anatomy of additional muscles of the subhyoid region, thyroid isthmus and pyramidal lobe. Rare and previously unknown variants of anatomical structure of the anterior cervical area are described that may play the role of risk factors of postoperative complications of tracheostomy. Relevant recommendations are provided for practicing otorhinolaryngologists.

The Sliced Pineapple Grid Feature for Predicting Grasping Affordances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Mikkel Tang; Kraft, Dirk; Krüger, Norbert

2017-01-01

The problem of grasping unknown objects utilising vision is addressed in this work by introducing a novel feature, the Sliced Pineapple Grid Feature (SPGF). The SPGF encode semi-local surfaces and allows for distinguishing structures such as “walls”,“edges” and “rims”. These structures are shown...

Discovery of an All-Pervading Previously Unknown Longitudinal Wave

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Orvin E.

2002-04-01

In 1988 a new species of longitudinal sound like wave was identified in this laboratory. These waves travel through (dark matter filled) vacuum as well as through ordinary matter. So far as is known these waves always appear as standing waves. The data suggest that they organize plants, organize structures in manipulated granular materials, organize planetary systems, and other structures of the universe. They are likely the basis for the beginnings of life and are closely associated with quantum waves. The repeating structures that they produce suggest that they are a basis for fractal structures. Their velocities appear to be a function of the medium as well as the timing of their sources since quantized velocities have been found. 12 years of data collected in this laboratory suggest that the waves are all pervading but they still interact with ordinary matter. These waves apparently provide for the stability of the solar system and probably the whole universe. They interact with gravity within plants, for example, to provide a basis for a plant's response to gravity. See the Wagner web site.

Personality Features of Motorists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrej Justinek

1997-12-01

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

Detecting unknown attacks in wireless sensor networks that contain mobile nodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Banković, Zorana; Fraga, David; Moya, José M; Vallejo, Juan Carlos

2012-01-01

As wireless sensor networks are usually deployed in unattended areas, security policies cannot be updated in a timely fashion upon identification of new attacks. This gives enough time for attackers to cause significant damage. Thus, it is of great importance to provide protection from unknown attacks. However, existing solutions are mostly concentrated on known attacks. On the other hand, mobility can make the sensor network more resilient to failures, reactive to events, and able to support disparate missions with a common set of sensors, yet the problem of security becomes more complicated. In order to address the issue of security in networks with mobile nodes, we propose a machine learning solution for anomaly detection along with the feature extraction process that tries to detect temporal and spatial inconsistencies in the sequences of sensed values and the routing paths used to forward these values to the base station. We also propose a special way to treat mobile nodes, which is the main novelty of this work. The data produced in the presence of an attacker are treated as outliers, and detected using clustering techniques. These techniques are further coupled with a reputation system, in this way isolating compromised nodes in timely fashion. The proposal exhibits good performances at detecting and confining previously unseen attacks, including the cases when mobile nodes are compromised.

Temporal resolution for the perception of features and conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bodelón, Clara; Fallah, Mazyar; Reynolds, John H

2007-01-24

The visual system decomposes stimuli into their constituent features, represented by neurons with different feature selectivities. How the signals carried by these feature-selective neurons are integrated into coherent object representations is unknown. To constrain the set of possible integrative mechanisms, we quantified the temporal resolution of perception for color, orientation, and conjunctions of these two features. We find that temporal resolution is measurably higher for each feature than for their conjunction, indicating that time is required to integrate features into a perceptual whole. This finding places temporal limits on the mechanisms that could mediate this form of perceptual integration.

A systematic review on screening for Fabry disease: prevalence of individuals with genetic variants of unknown significance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Tol, L.; Smid, B. E.; Poorthuis, B. J. H. M.; Biegstraaten, M.; Deprez, R. H. Lekanne; Linthorst, G. E.; Hollak, C. E. M.

2014-01-01

Screening for Fabry disease (FD) reveals a high prevalence of individuals with α-galactosidase A (GLA) genetic variants of unknown significance (GVUS). These individuals often do not express characteristic features of FD. A systematic review on FD screening studies was performed to interpret the

Exploring point-cloud features from partial body views for gender classification

Science.gov (United States)

Fouts, Aaron; McCoppin, Ryan; Rizki, Mateen; Tamburino, Louis; Mendoza-Schrock, Olga

2012-06-01

In this paper we extend a previous exploration of histogram features extracted from 3D point cloud images of human subjects for gender discrimination. Feature extraction used a collection of concentric cylinders to define volumes for counting 3D points. The histogram features are characterized by a rotational axis and a selected set of volumes derived from the concentric cylinders. The point cloud images are drawn from the CAESAR anthropometric database provided by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Human Effectiveness Directorate and SAE International. This database contains approximately 4400 high resolution LIDAR whole body scans of carefully posed human subjects. Success from our previous investigation was based on extracting features from full body coverage which required integration of multiple camera images. With the full body coverage, the central vertical body axis and orientation are readily obtainable; however, this is not the case with a one camera view providing less than one half body coverage. Assuming that the subjects are upright, we need to determine or estimate the position of the vertical axis and the orientation of the body about this axis relative to the camera. In past experiments the vertical axis was located through the center of mass of torso points projected on the ground plane and the body orientation derived using principle component analysis. In a natural extension of our previous work to partial body views, the absence of rotational invariance about the cylindrical axis greatly increases the difficulty for gender classification. Even the problem of estimating the axis is no longer simple. We describe some simple feasibility experiments that use partial image histograms. Here, the cylindrical axis is assumed to be known. We also discuss experiments with full body images that explore the sensitivity of classification accuracy relative to displacements of the cylindrical axis. Our initial results provide the basis for further

How the risky features of previous selection affect subsequent decision-making: evidence from behavioral and fMRI measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Guangheng; Zhang, Yifen; Xu, Jiaojing; Lin, Xiao; Du, Xiaoxia

2015-01-01

Human decision making is rarely conducted in temporal isolation. It is often biased and affected by environmental variables, particularly prior selections. In this study, we used a task that simulates a real gambling process to explore the effect of the risky features of a previous selection on subsequent decision making. Compared with decision making after an advantageous risk-taking situation (Risk_Adv), that after a disadvantageous risk-taking situation (Risk_Disadv) is associated with a longer response time (RT, the time spent in making decisions) and higher brain activations in the caudate and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Compared with decisions after Risk_Adv, those after Risk_Disadv in loss trials are associated with higher brain activations in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the precuneus. Brain activity and relevant RTs significantly correlated. Overall, people who experience disadvantageous risk-taking selections tend to focus on current decision making and engage cognitive endeavors in value evaluation and in the regulation of their risk-taking behaviors during decision making.

Granulomatous lobular mastitis: report of a case with previously undescribed histopathological abnormalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Axelsen, R A; Reasbeck, P

1988-10-01

A 41-yr-old multiparous woman presented with a discrete breast lump which proved histologically to be an example of granulomatous lobular mastitis. The clinical and histological features were similar to those noted in previous reports. Additional histological features in the present case were an intense mononuclear cell infiltration of lobular and ductal epithelium, associated with nuclear fragments morphologically suggestive of apoptosis. These appearances, which have not previously been described, are illustrated, together with the more classical features of the condition well demonstrated by the present case. The novel histological features noted here suggest that the development of granulomatous lobular mastitis may be at least in part immunologically mediated, and that the cellular infiltrates seen may be a manifestation of cell-mediated destruction of mammary epithelium.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pachet François

2009-01-01

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

Conjunctive Coding of Complex Object Features

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-01-01

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

Unknown facets of Well-Known Scientists Series - Part II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V S Dixit

2016-01-01

Full Text Available 1st in the series of articles on “Unknown Facets of well-known Scientists” was about Sir Frederick Grant Banting, co-discoverer of Insulin, who also researched in Aviation and Diving Medicines, results of which brought extraordinary benefits for Flight crew during the World War II. The article was published in the previous issue of the Journal Unknown facets could be celebrated attributes, talents or otherwise, but it is necessary that we get to know fully about the “great mind". THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT DR WERNER THEODOR OTTO FORSSMANN, A CARDIOLOGIST, WHO BECAME A UROLOGIST! Does the name Dr Forssmann ring a bell? He shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with “Andre Cournand and Dickinson Richards". The trio was awarded for their “discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system". Dr Forssmann was nominated for performing an experiment in which he introduced a catheter into a vein of his arm, further passing it onward into his heart It was risky. This was in the year 1929. Subject of this article is the self-experimentation he carried out and what happened later.

Neurological autoantibodies in drug-resistant epilepsy of unknown cause.

Science.gov (United States)

Tecellioglu, Mehmet; Kamisli, Ozden; Kamisli, Suat; Yucel, Fatma Ebru; Ozcan, Cemal

2018-03-09

Autoimmune epilepsy is a rarely diagnosed condition. Recognition of the underlying autoimmune condition is important, as these patients can be resistant to antiepileptic drugs. To determine the autoimmune and oncological antibodies in adult drug-resistant epilepsy of unknown cause and identify the clinical, radiological, and EEG findings associated with these antibodies according to data in the literature. Eighty-two patients with drug-resistant epilepsy of unknown cause were prospectively identified. Clinical features were recorded. The levels of anti-voltage-gated potassium channel complex (anti-VGKCc), anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO), anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD), anti-phospholipid IgG and IgM, anti-cardiolipin IgG and IgM, and onconeural antibodies were determined. Serum antibody positivity suggesting the potential role of autoimmunity in the aetiology was present in 17 patients with resistant epilepsy (22.0%). Multiple antibodies were found in two patients (2.6%). One of these patients (1.3%) had anti-VGKCc and ANA, whereas another (1.3%) had anti-VGKCc and anti-TPO. A single antibody was present in 15 patients (19.5%). Of the 77 patients finally included in the study, 4 had anti-TPO (5.2%), 1 had anti-GAD (1.3%), 4 had anti-VGKCc (5.2%) 8 had ANA (10.3%), and 2 had onconeural antibodies (2.6%) (1 patient had anti-Yo and 1 had anti-MA2/TA). The other antibodies investigated were not detected. EEG abnormality (focal), focal seizure incidence, and frequent seizures were more common in antibody-positive patients. Autoimmune factors may be aetiologically relevant in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy of unknown cause, especially if focal seizures are present together with focal EEG abnormality and frequent seizures.

Crowdsourcing the unknown: the satellite search for Genghis Khan.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A Y M Lin

Full Text Available Massively parallel collaboration and emergent knowledge generation is described through a large scale survey for archaeological anomalies within ultra-high resolution earth-sensing satellite imagery. Over 10K online volunteers contributed 30K hours (3.4 years, examined 6,000 km², and generated 2.3 million feature categorizations. Motivated by the search for Genghis Khan's tomb, participants were tasked with finding an archaeological enigma that lacks any historical description of its potential visual appearance. Without a pre-existing reference for validation we turn towards consensus, defined by kernel density estimation, to pool human perception for "out of the ordinary" features across a vast landscape. This consensus served as the training mechanism within a self-evolving feedback loop between a participant and the crowd, essential driving a collective reasoning engine for anomaly detection. The resulting map led a National Geographic expedition to confirm 55 archaeological sites across a vast landscape. A increased ground-truthed accuracy was observed in those participants exposed to the peer feedback loop over those whom worked in isolation, suggesting collective reasoning can emerge within networked groups to outperform the aggregate independent ability of individuals to define the unknown.

Known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns in prokaryotic transposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Siguier, Patricia; Gourbeyre, Edith; Chandler, Michael

2017-08-01

Although the phenomenon of transposition has been known for over 60 years, its overarching importance in modifying and streamlining genomes took some time to recognize. In spite of a robust understanding of transposition of some TE, there remain a number of important TE groups with potential high genome impact and unknown transposition mechanisms and yet others, only recently identified by bioinformatics, yet to be formally confirmed as mobile. Here, we point to some areas of limited understanding concerning well established important TE groups with DDE Tpases, to address central gaps in our knowledge of characterised Tn with other types of Tpases and finally, to highlight new potentially mobile DNA species. It is not exhaustive. Examples have been chosen to provide encouragement in the continued exploration of the considerable prokaryotic mobilome especially in light of the current threat to public health posed by the spread of multiple Ab R . Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantum circuits cannot control unknown operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Araújo, Mateus; Feix, Adrien; Costa, Fabio; Brukner, Časlav

2014-01-01

One of the essential building blocks of classical computer programs is the ‘if’ clause, which executes a subroutine depending on the value of a control variable. Similarly, several quantum algorithms rely on applying a unitary operation conditioned on the state of a control system. Here we show that this control cannot be performed by a quantum circuit if the unitary is completely unknown. The task remains impossible even if we allow the control to be done modulo a global phase. However, this no-go theorem does not prevent implementing quantum control of unknown unitaries in practice, as any physical implementation of an unknown unitary provides additional information that makes the control possible. We then argue that one should extend the quantum circuit formalism to capture this possibility in a straightforward way. This is done by allowing unknown unitaries to be applied to subspaces and not only to subsystems. (paper)

Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in a carcinoma with unknown primary: An autopsy study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gupta Kirti

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Kidney disease frequently complicates malignancy and its treatment. Although many solid and hematologic cancers may involve the renal parenchyma, clinical sequelae are usually not prominent. Published reports cite membranous nephropathy as the most common malignancy-associated glomerulopathy, occurring with many carcinomas and occasionally with leukemia and lymphoma followed by minimal change disease. Rarely membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN has been reported in patients with malignancy. The mechanism by which malignancy induces disease remains unproved, but may involve deposition of tumor antigen in the subepithelial space with in situ immune complex formation and subsequent complement activation. Treatment of the underlying malignancy may lead to resolution of nephrotic syndrome, lending indirect support to this theory. We report a rare autopsy case of a patient with metastatic carcinoma (with unknown primary associated with MPGN. The association between MPGN and metastatic carcinoma with unknown primary is uncommon and has not been previously reported in the literature.

Navigation through unknown and dynamic open spaces using topological notions

Science.gov (United States)

Miguel-Tomé, Sergio

2018-04-01

Until now, most algorithms used for navigation have had the purpose of directing system towards one point in space. However, humans communicate tasks by specifying spatial relations among elements or places. In addition, the environments in which humans develop their activities are extremely dynamic. The only option that allows for successful navigation in dynamic and unknown environments is making real-time decisions. Therefore, robots capable of collaborating closely with human beings must be able to make decisions based on the local information registered by the sensors and interpret and express spatial relations. Furthermore, when one person is asked to perform a task in an environment, this task is communicated given a category of goals so the person does not need to be supervised. Thus, two problems appear when one wants to create multifunctional robots: how to navigate in dynamic and unknown environments using spatial relations and how to accomplish this without supervision. In this article, a new architecture to address the two cited problems is presented, called the topological qualitative navigation architecture. In previous works, a qualitative heuristic called the heuristic of topological qualitative semantics (HTQS) has been developed to establish and identify spatial relations. However, that heuristic only allows for establishing one spatial relation with a specific object. In contrast, navigation requires a temporal sequence of goals with different objects. The new architecture attains continuous generation of goals and resolves them using HTQS. Thus, the new architecture achieves autonomous navigation in dynamic or unknown open environments.

Air monitoring data reveal previously unknown contamination at radioactive waste disposal area, Los Alamos National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraig, D.H.; Conrad, R.C.

2000-01-01

Air monitoring at Area G, the low-level radioactive waste disposal area at Los Alamos National Laboratory, revealed increased air concentrations of 239 Pu and 241 Am at one location along the north boundary. This air monitoring location is a couple of meters north of a dirt road used to access the easternmost part of Area G. Air concentrations of 238 Pu were essentially unaffected which was puzzling because both 238 Pu and 239 Pu are present in the local, slightly contaminated soils. Air concentrations of these radionuclides increased about a factor of ten in early 1995 and remained at those levels until the first quarter of 1996. During the spring of 1996 air concentrations again increased by a factor of about ten. No other radionuclides were elevated, and no other Area G stations showed elevations of these radionuclides. After several formal meetings did not provide an adequate explanation for the elevations, a gamma-survey was performed and showed a small area of significant contamination just south of the monitor location. We found that in February 1995, a trench for a water line had been dug within a meter or so of the air stations. Then, during early 1996, the dirt road was rerouted such that its new path was directly over the unknown contamination. It appears that the trenching brought contaminated material to the surface and caused the firs rise in air concentrations and then the rerouting of the road over the contamination caused the second rise, during 1996. We also found that during 1976 and 1977 contaminated soils from the clean-up of an old processing facility had been spread over the filled pits in the vicinity of the air monitors. These soils, which were probably the source of the air contamination, were very low in 238 Pu which explains why we saw very little 238 Pu in the increased air concentrations. A layer of gravel and sand was spread over the contaminated area. Although air concentrations of 239 Pu and 241 Am dropped considerably, they have

Evidence on Features of a DSGE Business Cycle Model from Bayesian Model Averaging

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R.W. Strachan (Rodney); H.K. van Dijk (Herman)

2012-01-01

textabstractThe empirical support for features of a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model with two technology shocks is valuated using Bayesian model averaging over vector autoregressions. The model features include equilibria, restrictions on long-run responses, a structural break of unknown

Writer identification using curvature-free features

NARCIS (Netherlands)

He, Sheng; Schomaker, Lambertus

2017-01-01

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

Chinese Unknown Word Recognition for PCFG-LA Parsing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiuping Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the recognition of unknown words in Chinese parsing. Two methods are proposed to handle this problem. One is the modification of a character-based model. We model the emission probability of an unknown word using the first and last characters in the word. It aims to reduce the POS tag ambiguities of unknown words to improve the parsing performance. In addition, a novel method, using graph-based semisupervised learning (SSL, is proposed to improve the syntax parsing of unknown words. Its goal is to discover additional lexical knowledge from a large amount of unlabeled data to help the syntax parsing. The method is mainly to propagate lexical emission probabilities to unknown words by building the similarity graphs over the words of labeled and unlabeled data. The derived distributions are incorporated into the parsing process. The proposed methods are effective in dealing with the unknown words to improve the parsing. Empirical results for Penn Chinese Treebank and TCT Treebank revealed its effectiveness.

Pragmatic application of the precautionary principle to deal with unknown safety challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frappier, G.; Viktorov, A., E-mail: gerry.frappier@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca, E-mail: alex.viktorov@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca [Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

2011-07-01

Nuclear power technology has matured over a number of decades to the point where our understanding of the technology under a wide variety of circumstances is quite high. Despite this high degree of maturity, discoveries of new challenges occasionally surface. These may arise from either unusual or unexpected operational conditions or new experimental findings from ongoing research. With the early realization that such discoveries could occur, a conscious effort was made to take precautions against their negative impacts. Principles such as defence-in-depth, designing for high reliability, incorporation of robust safety margins and use of justified conservatisms are key examples of established practices that are embedded in national regulatory regimes of most, if not all countries with nuclear programs. Because of these provisions the safety cases of the current generation of reactors proved to be quite resilient to discoveries of earlier unrecognized challenges. A fundamentally important element in the management of “unknown unknowns” is a healthy research programme. Such a programme is especially necessary as a precondition for understanding potential impacts from changes in operating conditions or implementation of novel design features. A research programme helps minimizing chances of stumbling on “unknown unknowns”, and allows resolution of emerging issues to by virtue of the accumulated understanding and capability to predict challenges to safety. In the few instances when discoveries occurred with recognized negative effects on safety, these spurred changes in operating conditions, maintenance or testing practices, design modifications, as well as required targeted research projects. This paper outlines several CANDU-specific “discoveries” in the field of thermalhydraulics, illustrating past “unknown unknowns” and the actions taken to address those. The main message, however, is to point out that both the industry and the regulator should

Pragmatic application of the precautionary principle to deal with unknown safety challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frappier, G.; Viktorov, A.

2011-01-01

Nuclear power technology has matured over a number of decades to the point where our understanding of the technology under a wide variety of circumstances is quite high. Despite this high degree of maturity, discoveries of new challenges occasionally surface. These may arise from either unusual or unexpected operational conditions or new experimental findings from ongoing research. With the early realization that such discoveries could occur, a conscious effort was made to take precautions against their negative impacts. Principles such as defence-in-depth, designing for high reliability, incorporation of robust safety margins and use of justified conservatisms are key examples of established practices that are embedded in national regulatory regimes of most, if not all countries with nuclear programs. Because of these provisions the safety cases of the current generation of reactors proved to be quite resilient to discoveries of earlier unrecognized challenges. A fundamentally important element in the management of “unknown unknowns” is a healthy research programme. Such a programme is especially necessary as a precondition for understanding potential impacts from changes in operating conditions or implementation of novel design features. A research programme helps minimizing chances of stumbling on “unknown unknowns”, and allows resolution of emerging issues to by virtue of the accumulated understanding and capability to predict challenges to safety. In the few instances when discoveries occurred with recognized negative effects on safety, these spurred changes in operating conditions, maintenance or testing practices, design modifications, as well as required targeted research projects. This paper outlines several CANDU-specific “discoveries” in the field of thermalhydraulics, illustrating past “unknown unknowns” and the actions taken to address those. The main message, however, is to point out that both the industry and the regulator should

Villitis of unknown aetiology: correlation of recurrence with clinical outcome.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Feeley, L

2010-01-01

Villitis of unknown aetiology (VUA) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. Consequently, an ability to predict recurrence could be clinically relevant. We examined placentas where villitis was diagnosed in a previous pregnancy to establish the risk of recurrence and outcome. A total of 304 cases of VUA were diagnosed in our laboratory over a 4-year period. Subsequently, 19 of this cohort had a second placenta examined histologically. Recurrence and clinical outcome were recorded. Villitis recurred in 7 of 19 cases (37%). There was a high level of adverse pregnancy outcome in this cohort overall, characterised by small for gestational age infants and stillbirth, particularly in cases with high-grade villitis. We identified recurrent villitis more frequently than previously reported. Our findings confirm an association between high-grade villitis and poor outcome. Adequately powered prospective studies are required to determine if enhanced surveillance of subsequent pregnancies is indicated following a diagnosis of villitis.

The pathogenicity of genetic variants previously associated with left ventricular non-compaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abbasi, Yeganeh; Jabbari, Javad; Jabbari, Reza

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) is a rare cardiomyopathy. Many genetic variants have been associated with LVNC. However, the number of the previous LVNC-associated variants that are common in the background population remains unknown. The aim of this study was to provide...... an updated list of previously reported LVNC-associated variants with biologic description and investigate the prevalence of LVNC variants in healthy general population to find false-positive LVNC-associated variants. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Human Gene Mutation Database and PubMed were systematically...... searched to identify all previously reported LVNC-associated variants. Thereafter, the Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) and the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC), that both represent the background population, was searched for all variants. Four in silico prediction tools were assessed to determine...

Known Unknowns in Judgment and Choice

OpenAIRE

Walters, Daniel

2017-01-01

This dissertation investigates how people make inferences about missing information. Whereas most prior literature focuses on how people process known information, I show that the extent to which people make inferences about missing information impacts judgments and choices. Specifically, I investigate how (1) awareness of known unknowns affects overconfidence in judgment in Chapter 1, (2) beliefs about the knowability of unknowns impacts investment strategies in Chapter 2, and (3) inferences...

Neural-Network-Based Robust Optimal Tracking Control for MIMO Discrete-Time Systems With Unknown Uncertainty Using Adaptive Critic Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lei; Wang, Zhanshan; Zhang, Huaguang

2018-04-01

This paper is concerned with the robust optimal tracking control strategy for a class of nonlinear multi-input multi-output discrete-time systems with unknown uncertainty via adaptive critic design (ACD) scheme. The main purpose is to establish an adaptive actor-critic control method, so that the cost function in the procedure of dealing with uncertainty is minimum and the closed-loop system is stable. Based on the neural network approximator, an action network is applied to generate the optimal control signal and a critic network is used to approximate the cost function, respectively. In contrast to the previous methods, the main features of this paper are: 1) the ACD scheme is integrated into the controllers to cope with the uncertainty and 2) a novel cost function, which is not in quadric form, is proposed so that the total cost in the design procedure is reduced. It is proved that the optimal control signals and the tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded even when the uncertainty exists. Finally, a numerical simulation is developed to show the effectiveness of the present approach.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, Aiqing; Jiang, Jingguo; Fu, Qiao

2014-08-20

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

Metastatic cancer of unknown primary in 21 dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi, F; Aresu, L; Vignoli, M; Buracco, P; Bettini, G; Ferro, S; Gattino, F; Ghiani, F; Costantino, R; Ressel, L; Bellei, E; Marconato, L

2015-03-01

The aim of this retrospective study was to describe clinical features, treatment and outcome of 21 dogs with metastatic cancer of unknown primary (MCUP), a biopsy-proven malignancy being diagnosed at a metastatic stage, in which the anatomical origin of the primary tumour cannot be detected. All dogs underwent total-body computed tomography. Signalment, type and duration of clinical signs, metastasis site, pathology results, treatment and outcome were recorded. Carcinoma was the most common diagnosis (57.1%), followed by sarcoma, melanoma and mast cell tumour. The median number of disease sites per dog was 2, with bones, lymph nodes, lungs and spleen being the most frequent metastatic locations. The median survival for all dogs was 30 days. Overall, a primary site was not identified in 20 (95.2%) dogs. MCUP encompasses a variety of different pathologic entities and harbours a poor prognosis. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

C2 emission features in the Red Rectangle : A combined observational laboratory study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wehres, N.; Romanzin, C.; Linnartz, H.; van Winckel, H.; Tielens, A. G. G. M.

Context. The Red Rectangle proto-planetary nebula (HD 44179) is known for a number of rather narrow emission features superimposed on a broad extended red emission (ERE) covering the 5000-7500 angstrom regime. The origin of these emission features is unknown. Aims. The aim of the present work is to

Mobile assistant for unknown caller identification

OpenAIRE

Hribernik, Andraž

2012-01-01

The main motivation of this diploma thesis is a development of Android application, which helps user of application to find out who is the owner of unknown phone number. Data source for finding unknown phone number are free available web sources. Through the development of prototype, data from different web sources were integrated. Result of this integration is shown in Android application. Data integration includes access to semi-structured data on web portal of Phone Directory of Slovenia, ...

Early-Onset Oligohydramnios Complicated with Hypertension, Hyperthyroidism and Coexisting Elevated Urine Vanillylmandelic Acid of Unknown Origin, Mimicking a Pheochromocytoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joung-Liang Wu

2004-12-01

Conclusion: A combination of hypertension, oligohydramnios and hyperthyroidism is rare. An elevated 24- hour urine vanillylmandelic acid of unknown origin is a previously unreported finding, to the best of our knowledge, associated with hyperthyroidism and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

Drosophila Transposon Insertions as Unknowns for Structured Inquiry Recombination Mapping Exercises in an Undergraduate Genetics Course

OpenAIRE

Marcus, Jeffrey M.; Hughes, Tia M.

2009-01-01

Structured inquiry approaches, in which students receive a Drosophila strain of unknown genotype to analyze and map the constituent mutations, are a common feature of many genetics teaching laboratories. The required crosses frustrate many students because they are aware that they are participating in a fundamentally trivial exercise, as the map locations of the genes are already established and have been recalculated thousands of times by generations of students. We modified the traditional ...

Predicting DNA binding proteins using support vector machine with hybrid fractal features.

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Xiao-Hui; Hu, Xue-Hai; Shi, Feng; Xia, Jing-Bo

2014-02-21

DNA-binding proteins play a vitally important role in many biological processes. Prediction of DNA-binding proteins from amino acid sequence is a significant but not fairly resolved scientific problem. Chaos game representation (CGR) investigates the patterns hidden in protein sequences, and visually reveals previously unknown structure. Fractal dimensions (FD) are good tools to measure sizes of complex, highly irregular geometric objects. In order to extract the intrinsic correlation with DNA-binding property from protein sequences, CGR algorithm, fractal dimension and amino acid composition are applied to formulate the numerical features of protein samples in this paper. Seven groups of features are extracted, which can be computed directly from the primary sequence, and each group is evaluated by the 10-fold cross-validation test and Jackknife test. Comparing the results of numerical experiments, the group of amino acid composition and fractal dimension (21-dimension vector) gets the best result, the average accuracy is 81.82% and average Matthew's correlation coefficient (MCC) is 0.6017. This resulting predictor is also compared with existing method DNA-Prot and shows better performances. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Mass-forming cholangiocarcinoma and adenocarcinoma of unknown primary: can they be distinguished on liver MRI?

Science.gov (United States)

Al Ansari, Najwa; Kim, Bong Soo; Srirattanapong, Saowanee; Semelka, Charles T A; Ramalho, Miguel; Altun, Ersan; Woosley, John T; Calvo, Benjamin; Semelka, Richard C

2014-12-01

To determine MR features suggestive of mass-forming cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) or liver metastases of adenocarcinoma of unknown primary (AUP), and to compare the ability of two experienced radiologists to establish the correct diagnosis. 61 patients with CCA or AUP, with MRIs were placed into two groups: population 1, 28 patients with certain diagnosis of either CCA or AUP; and population 2, 33 patients with uncertain diagnosis. Using population 1 with known diagnosis, two investigators formulated imaging criteria for CCA or AUP, which represented phase 1 of the study. In phase 2, two independent radiologists categorized the patients in populations 1 and 2 as CCA or AUP using the formulated criteria. This categorization was compared with the patient medical records and pathologist review. Findings were tested for statistical significance. In phase 1, solitary lesion, multifocal lesions with dominant lesion, capsule retraction, and porta hepatis lymphadenopathy were features of CCA; multifocal lesions with similar size, and ring enhancement were features of AUP. The number of lesions, capsule retraction, and early tumor enhancement pattern were observed to be significant features (P AUP are identifiable on MRI images, which may aid the radiologist to establish the correct diagnosis.

Partial Epilepsy with Auditory Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Gordon Millichap

2004-07-01

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

A keyword spotting model using perceptually significant energy features

Science.gov (United States)

Umakanthan, Padmalochini

The task of a keyword recognition system is to detect the presence of certain words in a conversation based on the linguistic information present in human speech. Such keyword spotting systems have applications in homeland security, telephone surveillance and human-computer interfacing. General procedure of a keyword spotting system involves feature generation and matching. In this work, new set of features that are based on the psycho-acoustic masking nature of human speech are proposed. After developing these features a time aligned pattern matching process was implemented to locate the words in a set of unknown words. A word boundary detection technique based on frame classification using the nonlinear characteristics of speech is also addressed in this work. Validation of this keyword spotting model was done using widely acclaimed Cepstral features. The experimental results indicate the viability of using these perceptually significant features as an augmented feature set in keyword spotting.

MoCha: Molecular Characterization of Unknown Pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Lobo, Daniel; Hammelman, Jennifer; Levin, Michael

2016-04-01

Automated methods for the reverse-engineering of complex regulatory networks are paving the way for the inference of mechanistic comprehensive models directly from experimental data. These novel methods can infer not only the relations and parameters of the known molecules defined in their input datasets, but also unknown components and pathways identified as necessary by the automated algorithms. Identifying the molecular nature of these unknown components is a crucial step for making testable predictions and experimentally validating the models, yet no specific and efficient tools exist to aid in this process. To this end, we present here MoCha (Molecular Characterization), a tool optimized for the search of unknown proteins and their pathways from a given set of known interacting proteins. MoCha uses the comprehensive dataset of protein-protein interactions provided by the STRING database, which currently includes more than a billion interactions from over 2,000 organisms. MoCha is highly optimized, performing typical searches within seconds. We demonstrate the use of MoCha with the characterization of unknown components from reverse-engineered models from the literature. MoCha is useful for working on network models by hand or as a downstream step of a model inference engine workflow and represents a valuable and efficient tool for the characterization of unknown pathways using known data from thousands of organisms. MoCha and its source code are freely available online under the GPLv3 license.

Community-acquired purulent meningitis of unknown etiology. A continuing problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Geiseler, P J; Nelson, K E; Levin, S

1981-12-01

The clinical features and hospital course of 132 patients with purulent meningitis of unknown etiology (PMU) were compared with those of 1,032 patients with proven bacterial meningitis; all patients were admitted to a major referral center for meningitis treatment between 1954 and 1976. Most patients had no major underlying illnesses. Patients with PMU were more frequently older, "pretreated" with antibiotics, had longer duration of symptoms, evidenced less marked alterations of mental status, and died later in the hospitalization; however, the mortality and frequency of neurologic complications were similar to those in patients with bacterial meningitis. Patients with PMU who also had hemorrhagic rashes had fewer neurologic complications and none died; these patients comprised a distinct group in terms of better prognosis. New methods for rapid diagnosis of bacterial meningitis have only partially resolved the diagnostic dilemma of PMU.

High Valence, Normal Valence and Unknown Valence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morsing, Thorbjørn Juul

the serendipitous synthesis of the nitrido-bridged [Rh(en)3]2- [(CN)5MnNMn(CN)5]. The complex anion have previously been studied in the form of the mixed Rb4Na2-salt. In this earlier study, the nitrido-bridge was found to be asymmetrical with the axial ligands in an eclipsed formation. The complex was described...... the [Rh(en)3]2-salt is best described as Mn3.5/Mn3.5. This means that the [(CN)5MnNMn(CN)5]6􀀀 ion displays crystal packing induced oxidation state isomerism, a rare phenomenon. Chapter 4 details the synthesis and characterisation of group 9 dithiolene complexes with focus on the hitherto unknown...... homoleptic iridium dithiolene complexes. When the complexes [M(mnt)3]3􀀀, M = Rh and Co are chemically oxidized, they decompose to yield dinuclear complexes with the metal still in oxidation state III. This is not the case for the corresponding Ir complex which can be oxidized and the oxidation...

Feature-based fast grasping for unknown objects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lei, Q.

2018-01-01

According to the report by the United Nations in 2015, the global population of older persons aged 60 years or over is predicted to grow to 1.4 billion by 2030. A rapidly aging population poses a challenging problem for human beings, i.e. supply shortage of working-age people. To solve this problem,

CT and MR imaging features in phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor-mixed connective tissue: A case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Zhenshan; Deng, Yiqiong; Li, Xiumei; Li, Yueming; Cao, Dairong; Coossa, Vikash Sahadeo

2018-04-01

Phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor-mixed connective tissue (PMT-MCT) is rare and usually benign and slow-growing. The majority of these tumors is associated with sporadic tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) or rickets, affect middle-aged individuals and are located in the extremities. Previous imaging studies often focused on seeking the causative tumors of TIO, not on the radiological features of these tumors, especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. PMT-MCT remains a largely misdiagnosed, ignored or unknown entity by most radiologists and clinicians. In the present case report, a review of the known literature of PMT-MCT was conducted and the CT and MRI findings from three patient cases were described for diagnosing the small subcutaneous tumor. Typical MRI appearances of PMT-MCT were isointense relative to the muscles on T1-weighted imaging, and markedly hyperintense on T2-weighted imaging containing variably flow voids, with markedly heterogeneous/homogenous enhancement on post contrast T1-weighted fat-suppression imaging. Short time inversion recovery was demonstrated to be the optimal sequence in localizing the tumor.

Does previous use affect litter box appeal in multi-cat households?

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, J J; McGowan, R T S; Martin, F

2017-08-01

It is commonly assumed that cats actively avoid eliminated materials (especially in multi-cat homes), suggesting regular litter box cleaning as the best defense against out-of-box elimination. The relationship between previous use and litter box appeal to familiar subsequent users is currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between previous litter box use and the identity of the previous user, type of elimination, odor, and presence of physical/visual obstructions in a multi-cat household scenario. Cats preferred a clean litter box to a dirty one, but the identity of the previous user had no impact on preferences. While the presence of odor from urine and/or feces did not impact litter box preferences, the presence of odorless faux-urine and/or feces did - with the presence of faux-feces being preferred over faux-urine. Results suggest neither malodor nor chemical communication play a role in litter box preferences, and instead emphasize the importance of regular removal of physical/visual obstructions as the key factor in promoting proper litter box use. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Post-operative therapy following transoral robotic surgery for unknown primary cancers of the head and neck.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Sapna A; Parvathaneni, Aarthi; Parvathaneni, Upendra; Houlton, Jeffrey J; Karni, Ron J; Liao, Jay J; Futran, Neal D; Méndez, Eduardo

2017-09-01

Our primary objective is to describe the post- operative management in patients with an unknown primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) treated with trans-oral robotic surgery (TORS). We conducted a retrospective multi-institutional case series including all patients diagnosed with an unknown primary HNSCC who underwent TORS to identify the primary site from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2016. We excluded those with recurrent disease, ≤6months of follow up from TORS, previous history of radiation therapy (RT) to the head and neck, or evidence of primary tumor site based on previous biopsies. Our main outcome measure was receipt of post-operative therapy. The tumor was identified in 26/35 (74.3%) subjects. Post-TORS, 2 subjects did not receive adjuvant therapy due to favorable pathology. Volume reduction of RT mucosal site coverage was achieved in 12/26 (46.1%) subjects who had lateralizing tumors, ie. those confined to the palatine tonsil or glossotonsillar sulcus. In addition, for 8/26 (30.1%), the contralateral neck RT was also avoided. In 9 subjects, no primary was identified (pT0); four of these received RT to the involved ipsilateral neck nodal basin only without pharyngeal mucosal irradiation. Surgical management of an unknown primary with TORS can lead to deintensification of adjuvant therapy including avoidance of chemotherapy and reduction in RT doses and volume. There was no increase in short term treatment failures. Treatment after TORS can vary significantly, thus we advocate adherence to NCCN guideline therapy post-TORS to avoid treatment-associated variability. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Determination of the origin of unknown irradiated nuclear fuel.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolaou, G

2006-01-01

An isotopic fingerprinting method is presented to determine the origin of unknown nuclear material with forensic importance. Spent nuclear fuel of known origin has been considered as the 'unknown' nuclear material in order to demonstrate the method and verify its prediction capabilities. The method compares, using factor analysis, the measured U, Pu isotopic compositions of the 'unknown' material with U, Pu isotopic compositions simulating well known spent fuels from a range of commercial nuclear power stations. Then, the 'unknown' fuel has the same origin as the commercial fuel with which it exhibits the highest similarity in U, Pu compositions.

Determination of the origin of unknown irradiated nuclear fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicolaou, G.

2006-01-01

An isotopic fingerprinting method is presented to determine the origin of unknown nuclear material with forensic importance. Spent nuclear fuel of known origin has been considered as the 'unknown' nuclear material in order to demonstrate the method and verify its prediction capabilities. The method compares, using factor analysis, the measured U, Pu isotopic compositions of the 'unknown' material with U, Pu isotopic compositions simulating well known spent fuels from a range of commercial nuclear power stations. Then, the 'unknown' fuel has the same origin as the commercial fuel with which it exhibits the highest similarity in U, Pu compositions

Function analysis of unknown genes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rogowska-Wrzesinska, A.

2002-01-01

  This thesis entitled "Function analysis of unknown genes" presents the use of proteome analysis for the characterisation of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) genes and their products (proteins especially those of unknown function). This study illustrates that proteome analysis can be used...... to describe different aspects of molecular biology of the cell, to study changes that occur in the cell due to overexpression or deletion of a gene and to identify various protein modifications. The biological questions and the results of the described studies show the diversity of the information that can...... genes and proteins. It reports the first global proteome database collecting 36 yeast single gene deletion mutants and selecting over 650 differences between analysed mutants and the wild type strain. The obtained results show that two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry based proteome...

Calibration of Binocular Vision Sensors Based on Unknown-Sized Elliptical Stripe Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhen Liu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Most of the existing calibration methods for binocular stereo vision sensor (BSVS depend on a high-accuracy target with feature points that are difficult and costly to manufacture and. In complex light conditions, optical filters are used for BSVS, but they affect imaging quality. Hence, the use of a high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points for calibration is not feasible under such complex conditions. To solve these problems, a calibration method based on unknown-sized elliptical stripe images is proposed. With known intrinsic parameters, the proposed method adopts the elliptical stripes located on the parallel planes as a medium to calibrate BSVS online. In comparison with the common calibration methods, the proposed method avoids utilizing high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points. Therefore, the proposed method is not only easy to implement but is a realistic method for the calibration of BSVS with optical filter. Changing the size of elliptical curves projected on the target solves the difficulty of applying the proposed method in different fields of view and distances. Simulative and physical experiments are conducted to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. When the field of view is approximately 400 mm × 300 mm, the proposed method can reach a calibration accuracy of 0.03 mm, which is comparable with that of Zhang’s method.

Feature Selection for Chemical Sensor Arrays Using Mutual Information

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X. Rosalind; Lizier, Joseph T.; Nowotny, Thomas; Berna, Amalia Z.; Prokopenko, Mikhail; Trowell, Stephen C.

2014-01-01

We address the problem of feature selection for classifying a diverse set of chemicals using an array of metal oxide sensors. Our aim is to evaluate a filter approach to feature selection with reference to previous work, which used a wrapper approach on the same data set, and established best features and upper bounds on classification performance. We selected feature sets that exhibit the maximal mutual information with the identity of the chemicals. The selected features closely match those found to perform well in the previous study using a wrapper approach to conduct an exhaustive search of all permitted feature combinations. By comparing the classification performance of support vector machines (using features selected by mutual information) with the performance observed in the previous study, we found that while our approach does not always give the maximum possible classification performance, it always selects features that achieve classification performance approaching the optimum obtained by exhaustive search. We performed further classification using the selected feature set with some common classifiers and found that, for the selected features, Bayesian Networks gave the best performance. Finally, we compared the observed classification performances with the performance of classifiers using randomly selected features. We found that the selected features consistently outperformed randomly selected features for all tested classifiers. The mutual information filter approach is therefore a computationally efficient method for selecting near optimal features for chemical sensor arrays. PMID:24595058

Estimating unknown input parameters when implementing the NGA ground-motion prediction equations in engineering practice

Science.gov (United States)

Kaklamanos, James; Baise, Laurie G.; Boore, David M.

2011-01-01

The ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) developed as part of the Next Generation Attenuation of Ground Motions (NGA-West) project in 2008 are becoming widely used in seismic hazard analyses. However, these new models are considerably more complicated than previous GMPEs, and they require several more input parameters. When employing the NGA models, users routinely face situations in which some of the required input parameters are unknown. In this paper, we present a framework for estimating the unknown source, path, and site parameters when implementing the NGA models in engineering practice, and we derive geometrically-based equations relating the three distance measures found in the NGA models. Our intent is for the content of this paper not only to make the NGA models more accessible, but also to help with the implementation of other present or future GMPEs.

Organizational Conditions for Dealing with The Unknown Unknown Illustrated by how a Dutch water management authority is preparing for climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Termeer, Catrien J. A. M.; van den Brink, Margo A.

2013-01-01

The central question of this article is the extent to which organizations, governmental authorities in particular, are able to deal with the unknown unknown. Drawing on Weick's work on sensemaking, we introduce seven organizational conditions that can facilitate organizations to be reliable under

Unknown foundation determination for scour.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-01

Unknown foundations affect about 9,000 bridges in Texas. For bridges over rivers, this creates a problem : regarding scour decisions as the calculated scour depth cannot be compared to the foundation depth, and a : very conservative costly approach m...

Organizational conditions for dealing with the unknown unknown : illustrated by how a Dutch water management authority is preparing for climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Termeer, C.J.A.M.; Brink, van den M.A.

2013-01-01

The central question of this article is the extent to which organizations, governmental authorities in particular, are able to deal with the unknown unknown. Drawing on Weick’s work on sensemaking, we introduce seven organizational conditions that can facilitate organizations to be reliable under

Map generation in unknown environments by AUKF-SLAM using line segment-type and point-type landmarks

Science.gov (United States)

Nishihta, Sho; Maeyama, Shoichi; Watanebe, Keigo

2018-02-01

Recently, autonomous mobile robots that collect information at disaster sites are being developed. Since it is difficult to obtain maps in advance in disaster sites, the robots being capable of autonomous movement under unknown environments are required. For this objective, the robots have to build maps, as well as the estimation of self-location. This is called a SLAM problem. In particular, AUKF-SLAM which uses corners in the environment as point-type landmarks has been developed as a solution method so far. However, when the robots move in an environment like a corridor consisting of few point-type features, the accuracy of self-location estimated by the landmark is decreased and it causes some distortions in the map. In this research, we propose AUKF-SLAM which uses walls in the environment as a line segment-type landmark. We demonstrate that the robot can generate maps in unknown environment by AUKF-SLAM, using line segment-type and point-type landmarks.

Meniscofibular Ligament: Morphology and Functional Significance of a Relatively Unknown Anatomical Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Natsis

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. A relatively unknown ligamentous structure of the posterolateral corner of the knee joint, the so-called meniscofibular ligament (MFL, was investigated as regards its macroscopic morphology, its histological features, and its reaction to knee movements. Material and Methods. MFL was exposed on 21 fresh-frozen unpaired knee joints. Its microscopic morphology was examined utilizing for comparison the fibular collateral and the popliteofibular ligament. Results. MFL was encountered in 100% of the specimens as a thin striplike fibrous band extending between the lower border of the lateral meniscus and the head of the fibula. MFL was tense during knee extension and external rotation of the tibia, whereas its histological features were similar to those of fibular collateral and popliteofibular ligament. Discussion. Its precise histological nature is studied as well as its tension alterations during knee movements. The potential functional significance of the MFL with respect to its role in avoidance of lateral meniscus and lateral coronary ligament tears is discussed. Conclusions. MFL presumably provides an additional protection to the lateral meniscus during the last stages of knee extension, as well as to the lateral coronary ligament reducing the possibility of a potential rupture.

Anti-Neuronal Autoantibodies in Both Drug Responsive and Resistant Focal Seizures with Unknown Cause.

Science.gov (United States)

Gozubatik-Celik, Gokcen; Ozkara, Cigdem; Ulusoy, Canan; Gunduz, Aysegul; Delil, Sakir; Yeni, Naz; Tuzun, Erdem

2017-09-01

and Objective Autoimmunity is an emerging field of research in the etiology of different neurological disorders including epilepsy. We aimed to investigate the presence of neuronal autoantibodies in focal epilepsy with unknown cause and their clinical correlates in both drug-responsive and resistant patients. Between 2009 and 2010 94 patients were prospectively enrolled, had their antibodies tested and clinically followed." An additional 50 age- and gender-matched controls were also tested for antibodies. Age at examination, gender, age at onset, seizure frequency, risk factors, seizure precipitants, and type of seizures were noted. Plasma obtained from patients was frozen at -80°C and analysed for autoantibodies against VGKC-complex, VGCC, GAD, LGI1, CASPR2, NMDA, AMPA and GABAB receptors with immunocytochemistry and radioimmunoassay as required. Thirteen (13.8%) patients, but none of the controls, had antibodies (p=0.003). Antibodies were directed against the uncharacterized components of VGKC-complex in 5 patients (5.3%), GAD in 4 patients (4.2%), NMDA-R in 1 patient (1%), AMPA-R in 1 patient (1%) and both GAD and VGKC-complex in 2 patients (2.1%). Prognosis of epilepsy, in subsequent follow-up, did not correlate to general presence of anti-neuronal antibodies with slightly more patients with antibodies epilepsy control than without (76.9% vs. 69.1%, not-statistically significant. Three patients with suspected active autoimmunity and epilepsy who were treated, showed a response to treatment with a reduction in the seizure frequency. Although most clinical features were identical between seropositive and seronegative patient groups, seropositive patients were more likely to have inflammatory/autoimmune disorders in their medical history. In keeping with previous studies, we have shown anti-neuronal antibodies in a proportion of focal epilepsy patients. Although autoimmunity might merely occur as a bystander effect in many chronic neurological disorders

A Novel Feature-Level Data Fusion Method for Indoor Autonomous Localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minxiang Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We present a novel feature-level data fusion method for autonomous localization in an inactive multiple reference unknown indoor environment. Since monocular sensors cannot provide the depth information directly, the proposed method incorporates the edge information of images from a camera with homologous depth information received from an infrared sensor. Real-time experimental results demonstrate that the accuracies of position and orientation are greatly improved by using the proposed fusion method in an unknown complex indoor environment. Compared to monocular localization, the proposed method is found to have up to 70 percent improvement in accuracy.

N-grams Based Supervised Machine Learning Model for Mobile Agent Platform Protection against Unknown Malicious Mobile Agents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pallavi Bagga

2017-12-01

Full Text Available From many past years, the detection of unknown malicious mobile agents before they invade the Mobile Agent Platform has been the subject of much challenging activity. The ever-growing threat of malicious agents calls for techniques for automated malicious agent detection. In this context, the machine learning (ML methods are acknowledged more effective than the Signature-based and Behavior-based detection methods. Therefore, in this paper, the prime contribution has been made to detect the unknown malicious mobile agents based on n-gram features and supervised ML approach, which has not been done so far in the sphere of the Mobile Agents System (MAS security. To carry out the study, the n-grams ranging from 3 to 9 are extracted from a dataset containing 40 malicious and 40 non-malicious mobile agents. Subsequently, the classification is performed using different classifiers. A nested 5-fold cross validation scheme is employed in order to avoid the biasing in the selection of optimal parameters of classifier. The observations of extensive experiments demonstrate that the work done in this paper is suitable for the task of unknown malicious mobile agent detection in a Mobile Agent Environment, and also adds the ML in the interest list of researchers dealing with MAS security.

Females use self-referent cues to avoid mating with previous mates.

Science.gov (United States)

Ivy, Tracie M; Weddle, Carie B; Sakaluk, Scott K

2005-12-07

Females of many species mate repeatedly throughout their lives, often with many different males (polyandry). Females can secure genetic benefits by maximizing their diversity of mating partners, and might be expected, therefore, to forego matings with previous partners in favour of novel males. Indeed, a female preference for novel mating partners has been shown in several taxa, but the mechanism by which females distinguish between novel males and previous mates remains unknown. We show that female crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) mark males with their own unique chemical signatures during mating, enabling females to recognize prior mates in subsequent encounters and to avoid remating with them. Because self-referent chemosensory cues provide females with a simple, but reliable mechanism of identifying individuals with whom they have mated without requiring any special cognitive ability, they may be a widespread means by which females across a broad range of animal mating systems maximize the genetic benefits of polyandry.

Classification of Unknown Thermocouple Types Using Similarity Factor Measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seshu K. DAMARLA

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In contrast to classification using PCA method, a new methodology is proposed for type identification of unknown thermocouple. The new methodology is based on calculating the degree of similarity between two multivariate datasets using two types of similarity factors. One similarity factor is based on principle component analysis and the angles between the principle component subspaces while the other is based on the Mahalanobis distance between the datasets. Datasets containing thermo-emfs against given temperature ranges are formed for each type of thermocouple (e.g. J, K, S, T, R, E, B and N type by experimentation are considered as reference datasets. Datasets corresponding to unknown type are captured. Similarity factor between the datasets one of which being the unknown type and the other being each known type are compared. When maximum similarity factor occurs, then the class of unknown type is allocated to that of known type.

Patch layout generation by detecting feature networks

KAUST Repository

Cao, Yuanhao

2015-02-01

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

Hypothesis testing for differentially correlated features.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-10-01

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

Real-time transient stabilization and voltage regulation of power generators with unknown mechanical power input

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kenne, Godpromesse; Goma, Raphael; Nkwawo, Homere; Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, Francoise; Arzande, Amir; Vannier, Jean Claude

2010-01-01

A nonlinear adaptive excitation controller is proposed to enhance the transient stability and voltage regulation of synchronous generators with unknown power angle and mechanical power input. The proposed method is based on a standard third-order model of a synchronous generator which requires only information about the physical available measurements of relative angular speed, active electric power, infinite bus and generator terminal voltages. The operating conditions are computed online using the above physical available measurements, the terminal voltage reference value and the estimate of the mechanical power input. The proposed design is therefore capable of providing satisfactory voltage in the presence of unknown variations of the power system operating conditions. Using the concept of sliding mode equivalent control techniques, a robust decentralized adaptive controller which insures the exponential convergence of the outputs to the desired ones, is obtained. Real-time experimental results are reported, comparing the performance of the proposed adaptive nonlinear control scheme to one of the conventional AVR/PSS controller. The high simplicity of the overall adaptive control scheme and its robustness with respect to line impedance variation including critical unbalanced operating condition and temporary turbine fault, constitute the main positive features of the proposed approach.

Real-time transient stabilization and voltage regulation of power generators with unknown mechanical power input

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kenne, Godpromesse, E-mail: gokenne@yahoo.co [Laboratoire d' Automatique et d' Informatique Appliquee (LAIA), Departement de Genie Electrique, Universite de Dschang, B.P. 134 Bandjoun (Cameroon); Goma, Raphael, E-mail: raphael.goma@lss.supelec.f [Laboratoire des Signaux et Systemes (L2S), CNRS-SUPELEC, Universite Paris XI, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Nkwawo, Homere, E-mail: homere.nkwawo@iutv.univ-paris13.f [Departement GEII, Universite Paris XIII, 99 Avenue Jean Baptiste Clement, 93430 Villetaneuse (France); Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, Francoise, E-mail: lamnabhi@lss.supelec.f [Laboratoire des Signaux et Systemes (L2S), CNRS-SUPELEC, Universite Paris XI, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Arzande, Amir, E-mail: Amir.arzande@supelec.f [Departement Energie, Ecole Superieure d' Electricite-SUPELEC, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Vannier, Jean Claude, E-mail: Jean-claude.vannier@supelec.f [Departement Energie, Ecole Superieure d' Electricite-SUPELEC, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2010-01-15

A nonlinear adaptive excitation controller is proposed to enhance the transient stability and voltage regulation of synchronous generators with unknown power angle and mechanical power input. The proposed method is based on a standard third-order model of a synchronous generator which requires only information about the physical available measurements of relative angular speed, active electric power, infinite bus and generator terminal voltages. The operating conditions are computed online using the above physical available measurements, the terminal voltage reference value and the estimate of the mechanical power input. The proposed design is therefore capable of providing satisfactory voltage in the presence of unknown variations of the power system operating conditions. Using the concept of sliding mode equivalent control techniques, a robust decentralized adaptive controller which insures the exponential convergence of the outputs to the desired ones, is obtained. Real-time experimental results are reported, comparing the performance of the proposed adaptive nonlinear control scheme to one of the conventional AVR/PSS controller. The high simplicity of the overall adaptive control scheme and its robustness with respect to line impedance variation including critical unbalanced operating condition and temporary turbine fault, constitute the main positive features of the proposed approach.

Parameter Optimization for Feature and Hit Generation in a General Unknown Screening Method-Proof of Concept Study Using a Design of Experiment Approach for a High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Procedure after Data Independent Acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmiger, Marco P; Poetzsch, Michael; Steuer, Andrea E; Kraemer, Thomas

2018-03-06

High resolution mass spectrometry and modern data independent acquisition (DIA) methods enable the creation of general unknown screening (GUS) procedures. However, even when DIA is used, its potential is far from being exploited, because often, the untargeted acquisition is followed by a targeted search. Applying an actual GUS (including untargeted screening) produces an immense amount of data that must be dealt with. An optimization of the parameters regulating the feature detection and hit generation algorithms of the data processing software could significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary data and thereby the workload. Design of experiment (DoE) approaches allow a simultaneous optimization of multiple parameters. In a first step, parameters are evaluated (crucial or noncrucial). Second, crucial parameters are optimized. The aim in this study was to reduce the number of hits, without missing analytes. The obtained parameter settings from the optimization were compared to the standard settings by analyzing a test set of blood samples spiked with 22 relevant analytes as well as 62 authentic forensic cases. The optimization lead to a marked reduction of workload (12.3 to 1.1% and 3.8 to 1.1% hits for the test set and the authentic cases, respectively) while simultaneously increasing the identification rate (68.2 to 86.4% and 68.8 to 88.1%, respectively). This proof of concept study emphasizes the great potential of DoE approaches to master the data overload resulting from modern data independent acquisition methods used for general unknown screening procedures by optimizing software parameters.

Impact of CT in patients with sepsis of unknown origin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barkhausen, J.; Stoeblen, F.; Mueller, R.D.

1999-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic relevance of CT in patients with sepsis of unknown origin. Material and Methods: Sixty-three consecutive intensive care patients with suspicion of an abscess and negative or inconclusive previous radiological examinations were included. CT was performed using the helical technique. A total of 45 abdominal and 38 chest examinations were evaluated. Results: 5/38 examinations of the chest revealed the source of sepsis (pleural empyema 2, lung abscess 1, mediastinitis 1, retrosternal abscess 1). 7/45 abdominal CT examinations showed the source of sepsis (intraabdominal abscess 2, hepatic abscess 3, intestinal perforation 1, gangrenous colitis 1). Conclusion: CT is useful for the evaluation of patients with fever or sepsis without a known source. Due to the detection of a spetic focus by CT, 19% of the patients in our study could be immediately referred to causal therapy as percutaneous drainage or surgery. (orig.)

Impact of CT in patients with sepsis of unknown origin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barkhausen, J.; Stoeblen, F.; Mueller, R.D. [University Hospital Essen (Germany). Dept. of Radiology; Dominguez-Fernandez, E. [University Hospital Essen (Germany). Dept. of General Surgery; Henseke, P. [Nycomed-Amersham Arzneimittel GmbH, Muenchen (Germany)

1999-09-01

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic relevance of CT in patients with sepsis of unknown origin. Material and Methods: Sixty-three consecutive intensive care patients with suspicion of an abscess and negative or inconclusive previous radiological examinations were included. CT was performed using the helical technique. A total of 45 abdominal and 38 chest examinations were evaluated. Results: 5/38 examinations of the chest revealed the source of sepsis (pleural empyema 2, lung abscess 1, mediastinitis 1, retrosternal abscess 1). 7/45 abdominal CT examinations showed the source of sepsis (intraabdominal abscess 2, hepatic abscess 3, intestinal perforation 1, gangrenous colitis 1). Conclusion: CT is useful for the evaluation of patients with fever or sepsis without a known source. Due to the detection of a spetic focus by CT, 19% of the patients in our study could be immediately referred to causal therapy as percutaneous drainage or surgery. (orig.)

Multifocal, chronic osteomyelitis of unknown etiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozlowski, K.; Beluffi, G.; Feltham, C.; James, M.; Nespoli, L.; Tamaela, L.; Pavia Univ.; Municipal Hospital, Nelson; Medical School, Jakarta

1985-01-01

Four cases of multifocal osteomyelitis of unknown origin in childhood are reported. The variable clinical and radiographic appearances of the disease are illustrated and the diagnostic difficulties in the early stages of the disease are stressed. (orig.) [de

The Airway Microbiome in Severe Asthma: Associations with Disease Features and Severity

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yvonne J.; Nariya, Snehal; Harris, Jeffrey M.; Lynch, Susan V.; Choy, David F.; Arron, Joseph R.; Boushey, Homer

2015-01-01

Background Asthma is heterogeneous, and airway dysbiosis is associated with clinical features in mild-moderate asthma. Whether similar relationships exist among patients with severe asthma is unknown. Objective To evaluate relationships between the bronchial microbiome and features of severe asthma. Methods Bronchial brushings from 40 participants in the BOBCAT study (Bronchoscopic Exploratory Research Study of Biomarkers in Corticosteroid-refractory Asthma) were evaluated using 16S rRNA-based methods. Relationships to clinical and inflammatory features were analyzed among microbiome-profiled subjects. Secondarily, bacterial compositional profiles were compared between severe asthmatics, and previously studied healthy controls (n=7), and mild-moderate asthma subjects (n=41). Results In severe asthma, bronchial bacterial composition was associated with several disease-related features, including body-mass index (BMI; Bray-Curtis distance PERMANOVA, p < 0.05), changes in Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) scores (p < 0.01), sputum total leukocytes (p = 0.06) and bronchial biopsy eosinophils (per mm2; p = 0.07). Bacterial communities associated with worsening ACQ and sputum total leukocytes (predominantly Proteobacteria) differed markedly from those associated with BMI (Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes). In contrast, improving/stable ACQ and bronchial epithelial gene expression of FKBP5, an indicator of steroid responsiveness, correlated with Actinobacteria. Mostly negative correlations were observed between biopsy eosinophils and Proteobacteria. No taxa were associated with a T-helper type 2-related epithelial gene expression signature, but expression of Th17-related genes was associated with Proteobacteria. Severe asthma subjects, compared to healthy controls or mild-moderate asthmatics, were significantly enriched in Actinobacteria, although the largest differences observed involved a Klebsiella genus member (7.8 fold-increase in severe asthma, padj < 0.001) Conclusions

The Use of a Modified Semantic Features Analysis Approach in Aphasia

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, Naomi; Frome, Amber

2011-01-01

Several studies have reported improved naming using the semantic feature analysis (SFA) approach in individuals with aphasia. Whether the SFA can be modified and still produce naming improvements in aphasia is unknown. The present study was designed to address this question by using a modified version of the SFA approach. Three, rather than the…

Fever of unknown origin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Misaki, Takashi; Matsui, Akira; Tanaka, Fumiko; Okuno, Yoshishige; Mitsumori, Michihide; Torizuka, Tatsurou; Dokoh, Shigeharu; Hayakawa, Katsumi; Shimbo, Shin-ichirou

1990-01-01

Gallium-67 scintigraphy is a commonly performed imaging modality in deteting pyrogenic lesions in cases of long-standing inexplainable fever. To re-evaluate the significance of gallium imaging in such cases, a retrospective review was made of 56 scans performed in febrile patients in whom sufficient clinical and laboratory findings were obtained. Gallium scans were true positive in 30 patients, false positive in 3, true negative in 19, and false negative in 4. In the group of true positive, local inflammatory lesions were detected in 23 patients with a final diagnosis of lung tuberculosis, urinary tract infection, and inflammatory joint disease. Abnormal gallium accumulation, as shown in the other 7 patients, provided clues to the diagnosis of generalized disorders, such as hematological malignancies (n=3), systemic autoimmune diseases (n=3), and severe infectious mononucleosis (n=one). In the group of false positive, gallium imaging revealed intestinal excretion of gallium in 2 patients and physiological pulmonary hilar accumulation in one. In the true negative group of 19 patients, fever of unknown origin was resolved spontaneously in 12 patients, and with antibiotics and corticosteroids in 2 and 5 patients, respectively. Four patients having false negative scans were finally diagnosed as having urinary tract infection (n=2), bacterial meningitis (n=one), and polyarteritis (n=one). Gallium imaging would remain the technique of choice in searching for origin of unknown fever. It may also be useful for early diagnosis of systemic disease, as well as focal inflammation. (N.K.)

Infants' Developing Sensitivity to Object Function: Attention to Features and Feature Correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgartner, Heidi A.; Oakes, Lisa M.

2011-01-01

When learning object function, infants must detect relations among features--for example, that squeezing is associated with squeaking or that objects with wheels roll. Previously, Perone and Oakes (2006) found 10-month-old infants were sensitive to relations between object appearances and actions, but not to relations between appearances and…

Detecting Precontact Anthropogenic Microtopographic Features in a Forested Landscape with Lidar: A Case Study from the Upper Great Lakes Region, AD 1000-1600.

Science.gov (United States)

Howey, Meghan C L; Sullivan, Franklin B; Tallant, Jason; Kopple, Robert Vande; Palace, Michael W

2016-01-01

Forested settings present challenges for understanding the full extent of past human landscape modifications. Field-based archaeological reconnaissance in forests is low-efficiency and most remote sensing techniques are of limited utility, and together, this means many past sites and features in forests are unknown. Archaeologists have increasingly used light detection and ranging (lidar), a remote sensing tool that uses pulses of light to measure reflecting surfaces at high spatial resolution, to address these limitations. Archaeology studies using lidar have made significant progress identifying permanent structures built by large-scale complex agriculturalist societies. Largely unaccounted for, however, are numerous small and more practical modifications of landscapes by smaller-scale societies. Here we show these may also be detectable with lidar by identifying remnants of food storage pits (cache pits) created by mobile hunter-gatherers in the upper Great Lakes during Late Precontact (ca. AD 1000-1600) that now only exist as subtle microtopographic features. Years of intensive field survey identified 69 cache pit groups between two inland lakes in northern Michigan, almost all of which were located within ~500 m of a lakeshore. Applying a novel series of image processing techniques and statistical analyses to a high spatial resolution DTM we created from commercial-grade lidar, our detection routine identified 139 high potential cache pit clusters. These included most of the previously known clusters as well as several unknown clusters located >1500 m from either lakeshore, much further from lakeshores than all previously identified cultural sites. Food storage is understood to have emerged regionally as a risk-buffering strategy after AD 1000 but our results indicate the current record of hunter-gatherer cache pit food storage is markedly incomplete and this practice and its associated impact on the landscape may be greater than anticipated. Our study also

Prediction of human protein function from post-translational modifications and localization features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lars Juhl; Gupta, Ramneek; Blom, Nikolaj

2002-01-01

a number of functional attributes that are more directly related to the linear sequence of amino acids, and hence easier to predict, than protein structure. These attributes include features associated with post-translational modifications and protein sorting, but also much simpler aspects......We have developed an entirely sequence-based method that identifies and integrates relevant features that can be used to assign proteins of unknown function to functional classes, and enzyme categories for enzymes. We show that strategies for the elucidation of protein function may benefit from...

Adversarial Feature Selection Against Evasion Attacks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fei; Chan, Patrick P K; Biggio, Battista; Yeung, Daniel S; Roli, Fabio

2016-03-01

Pattern recognition and machine learning techniques have been increasingly adopted in adversarial settings such as spam, intrusion, and malware detection, although their security against well-crafted attacks that aim to evade detection by manipulating data at test time has not yet been thoroughly assessed. While previous work has been mainly focused on devising adversary-aware classification algorithms to counter evasion attempts, only few authors have considered the impact of using reduced feature sets on classifier security against the same attacks. An interesting, preliminary result is that classifier security to evasion may be even worsened by the application of feature selection. In this paper, we provide a more detailed investigation of this aspect, shedding some light on the security properties of feature selection against evasion attacks. Inspired by previous work on adversary-aware classifiers, we propose a novel adversary-aware feature selection model that can improve classifier security against evasion attacks, by incorporating specific assumptions on the adversary's data manipulation strategy. We focus on an efficient, wrapper-based implementation of our approach, and experimentally validate its soundness on different application examples, including spam and malware detection.

Enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis: clinicopathologic features and review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Ngo, Nyethane; Chang, Fuju

2007-07-01

Enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis (ELP) is a recently described entity and is of unknown etiology and pathogenesis. It is characterized by phlebitis of the bowel wall and mesentery, without arterial involvement or evidence of systemic vasculitis. The clinical presentation of ELP is varied, but it most commonly manifests with signs of an acute abdomen. Clinical, radiologic, and endoscopic findings are often conflicting and misdiagnosis is common as venous thrombosis is not suspected. The diagnosis of ELP is obtained histologically. There is a spectrum of histologic features associated with ELP, which includes lymphocytic phlebitis, necrotizing phlebitis, granulomatous phlebitis, and myointimal hyperplasia. Other features include venous thrombi and acute ischemic changes of the intestine. Surgical resection of the affected bowel is usually curative and recurrences are rare. The clinical and histopathologic features of ELP are reviewed.

InSourcerer: a high-throughput method to search for unknown metabolite modifications by mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Mrzic, Aida; Lermyte, Frederik; Vu, Trung Nghia; Valkenborg, Dirk; Laukens, Kris

2017-09-15

Using mass spectrometry, the analysis of known metabolite structures has become feasible in a systematic high-throughput fashion. Nevertheless, the identification of previously unknown structures remains challenging, partially because many unidentified variants originate from known molecules that underwent unexpected modifications. Here, we present a method for the discovery of unknown metabolite modifications and conjugate metabolite isoforms in a high-throughput fashion. The method is based on user-controlled in-source fragmentation which is used to induce loss of weakly bound modifications. This is followed by the comparison of product ions from in-source fragmentation and collision-induced dissociation (CID). Diagonal MS 2 -MS 3 matching allows the detection of unknown metabolite modifications, as well as substructure similarities. As the method relies heavily on the advantages of in-source fragmentation and its ability to 'magically' elucidate unknown modification, we have named it inSourcerer as a portmanteau of in-source and sorcerer. The method was evaluated using a set of 15 different cytokinin standards. Product ions from in-source fragmentation and CID were compared. Hierarchical clustering revealed that good matches are due to the presence of common substructures. Plant leaf extract, spiked with a mix of all 15 standards, was used to demonstrate the method's ability to detect these standards in a complex mixture, as well as confidently identify compounds already present in the plant material. Here we present a method that incorporates a classic liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) workflow with fragmentation models and computational algorithms. The assumptions upon which the concept of the method was built were shown to be valid and the method showed that in-source fragmentation can be used to pinpoint structural similarities and indicate the occurrence of a modification. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Destination memory and familiarity: better memory for conversations with Elvis Presley than with unknown people.

Science.gov (United States)

El Haj, Mohamad; Omigie, Diana; Samson, Séverine

2015-06-01

Familiarity is assumed to exert a beneficial effect on memory in older adults. Our paper investigated this issue specifically for destination memory, that is, memory of the destination of previously relayed information. Young and older adults were told familiar (Experiment 1) and unfamiliar (Experiment 2) proverbs associated with pictures depicting faces of celebrities (e.g., Elvis Presley) or unknown people, with a specific proverb assigned to each face. In a later recognition task, participants were presented with the previously exposed proverb-face pairs and for each pair had to decide whether they had previously relayed the given proverb to the given face. In general, destination performance was found to be higher for familiar than for unfamiliar faces. However while there was no difference between the two groups when the proverbs being relayed were unfamiliar, the advantage of face familiarity on destination memory was present only for older adults when the proverbs being relayed were familiar. Our results show that destination memory in older adults is sensitive to familiarity of both destination and output information.

An Integrated Account of Generalization across Objects and Features

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Charles; Shafto, Patrick; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.

2012-01-01

Humans routinely make inductive generalizations about unobserved features of objects. Previous accounts of inductive reasoning often focus on inferences about a single object or feature: accounts of causal reasoning often focus on a single object with one or more unobserved features, and accounts of property induction often focus on a single…

Previously unreported abnormalities in Wolfram Syndrome Type 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Akturk, Halis Kaan; Yasa, Seda

2017-01-01

Wolfram syndrome (WFS) is a rare autosomal recessive disease with non-autoimmune childhood onset insulin dependent diabetes and optic atrophy. WFS type 2 (WFS2) differs from WFS type 1 (WFS1) with upper intestinal ulcers, bleeding tendency and the lack ofdiabetes insipidus. Li-fespan is short due to related comorbidities. Only a few familieshave been reported with this syndrome with the CISD2 mutation. Here we report two siblings with a clinical diagnosis of WFS2, previously misdiagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy-related blindness. We report possible additional clinical and laboratory findings that have not been pre-viously reported, such as asymptomatic hypoparathyroidism, osteomalacia, growth hormone (GH) deficiency and hepatomegaly. Even though not a requirement for the diagnosis of WFS2 currently, our case series confirm hypogonadotropic hypogonadism to be also a feature of this syndrome, as reported before. © Polish Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology.

Subclinical psychotic experiences and bipolar spectrum features in depression : association with outcome of psychotherapy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wigman, J. T. W.; van Os, J.; Abidi, L.; Huibers, M. J. H.; Roelofs, J.; Arntz, A.; Kelleher, I.; Peeters, F. P. M. L.

Background Subthreshold psychotic and bipolar experiences are common in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it is unknown if effectiveness of psychotherapy is altered in depressed patients who display such features compared with those without. The current paper aimed to investigate the impact

Quantum jointly assisted cloning of an unknown three-dimensional equatorial state

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Peng-Cheng; Chen, Gui-Bin; Li, Xiao-Wei; Zhan, You-Bang

2018-02-01

We present two schemes for perfectly cloning an unknown single-qutrit equatorial state with assistance from two and N state preparers, respectively. In the first scheme, the sender wishes to teleport an unknown single-qutrit equatorial state from two state preparers to a remote receiver, and then to create a perfect copy of the unknown state at her location. The scheme consists of two stages. The first stage of the scheme requires the usual teleportation. In the second stage, to help the sender realize the quantum cloning, two state preparers perform single-qutrit projective measurements on their own qutrits from the sender, then the sender can acquire a perfect copy of the unknown state. It is shown that, only if the two state preparers collaborate with each other, the sender can create a copy of the unknown state by means of some appropriate unitary operations. In the second scheme, we generalized the jointly assisted cloning in the first scheme to the case of N state prepares. In the present schemes, the total probability of success for assisted cloning of a perfect copy of the unknown state can reach 1.

The known unknowns: neural representation of second-order uncertainty, and ambiguity

Science.gov (United States)

Bach, Dominik R.; Hulme, Oliver; Penny, William D.; Dolan, Raymond J.

2011-01-01

Predictions provided by action-outcome probabilities entail a degree of (first-order) uncertainty. However, these probabilities themselves can be imprecise and embody second-order uncertainty. Tracking second-order uncertainty is important for optimal decision making and reinforcement learning. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging investigations of second-order uncertainty in humans have drawn on an economic concept of ambiguity, where action-outcome associations in a gamble are either known (unambiguous) or completely unknown (ambiguous). Here, we relaxed the constraints associated with a purely categorical concept of ambiguity and varied the second-order uncertainty of gambles continuously, quantified as entropy over second-order probabilities. We show that second-order uncertainty influences decisions in a pessimistic way by biasing second-order probabilities, and that second-order uncertainty is negatively correlated with posterior cingulate cortex activity. The category of ambiguous (compared to non-ambiguous) gambles also biased choice in a similar direction, but was associated with distinct activation of a posterior parietal cortical area; an activation that we show reflects a different computational mechanism. Our findings indicate that behavioural and neural responses to second-order uncertainty are distinct from those associated with ambiguity and may call for a reappraisal of previous data. PMID:21451019

Feature Binding and the Hebb Repetition Effect

OpenAIRE

Barrett, Maeve

2008-01-01

Previous studies have found no evidence that long-term learning of integrated objects and individual features benefit visual short term memory tasks (Logie, Brockmole, & Vandenbroucke, in press; Olson & Jiang, 2004; Treisman, 2006). These findings may have been due to stimulus interference as a restricted number of features were utilised in these studies to form objects in the stimulus arrays. In these studies, participants would have needed to break apart the features of several objects in a...

Iterative Selection of Unknown Weights in Direct Weight Optimization Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Xuan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available To the direct weight optimization identification of the nonlinear system, we add some linear terms about input sequences in the former linear affine function so as to approximate the nonlinear property. To choose the two classes of unknown weights in the more linear terms, this paper derives the detailed process on how to choose these unknown weights from theoretical analysis and engineering practice, respectively, and makes sure of their key roles between the unknown weights. From the theoretical analysis, the added unknown weights’ auxiliary role can be known in the whole process of approximating the nonlinear system. From the practical analysis, we learn how to transform one complex optimization problem to its corresponding common quadratic program problem. Then, the common quadratic program problem can be solved by the basic interior point method. Finally, the efficiency and possibility of the proposed strategies can be confirmed by the simulation results.

Proton MR spectroscopic features of chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Soon Gu; Chung, Won Kyun; Kim, Young Soo; Choi, Won; Shin, Seok Hwan; Kim, Hyung Jin; Suh, Chang Hae

2000-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate change in the proton MR spectroscopic ( 1 H-MRS) features of the liver according to changes in the severity of the chronic hepatitis spectrum (normal-chronic hepatitis-liver cirrhosis), and to determine the possibility of replacing liver biopsy by 1 H-MRS. Sixty profiles of 1 H-MRS features from 15 normal volunteers, 30 cases of chronic hepatitis, and 15 of liver cirrhosis were evaluated. All cases of chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis were confirmed by biopsy, and histopathologic disease severity was categorized according to Ludwig's classification. Using the STEAM (STimulated Echo-Aquisition Mode) sequence, 1 H-MRS was performed. The ratios of peak areas of (glutamate + glutamine)/lipid, phosphomonoesters/lipid, (glycogen + glucose)/lipid, and (3.9-4.1 ppm unknown peak)/lipid and their mean and standard deviation were calculated in normal, chronic hepatitis stages I and II, and early and late liver cirrhosis groups and the results were compared between these groups. One-way variable analysis was applied to the statistics. Mean and standard deviation of phosphomonoesters/lipid in the normal, chronic hepatitis grades I and II, and early and late liver cirrhosis groups were 0.0146±0.0090, 0.0222±0.0170, 0.0341±0.0276, 0.0698±0.0360, and 0.0881±0.0276, respectively, and (glycogen + glucose)/lipid were 0.0403±0.0267, 0.0922±0.0377, 0.1230±0.0364, 0.1853±0.0667, 0.2325±0.1071, respectively. These results implied that the ratio of the above metabolites to lipid content increased according to increasing disease severity (p less than 0.05). For (glutamate + glutamine)/lipid however, the ratios for each group were 0.0204±0.0067, 0.0117±0.0078, 0.0409±0.0167, 0.0212±0.0103, and 0.0693±0.0371, respectively, and there was no correlation with disease severity. In the chronic hepatitis grades I and II, and early and late liver cirrhosis groups, the ratios for (3.9-4.1 ppm unknown peak)/lipid were 0.0302±0.0087, 0

Risks of cardiovascular adverse events and death in patients with previous stroke undergoing emergency noncardiac, nonintracranial surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Mia N.; Andersson, Charlotte; Gislason, Gunnar H.

2017-01-01

Background: The outcomes of emergent noncardiac, nonintracranial surgery in patients with previous stroke remain unknown. Methods: All emergency surgeries performed in Denmark (2005 to 2011) were analyzed according to time elapsed between previous ischemic stroke and surgery. The risks of 30-day...... mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events were estimated as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs using adjusted logistic regression models in a priori defined groups (reference was no previous stroke). In patients undergoing surgery immediately (within 1 to 3 days) or early after stroke (within 4 to 14...... and general anesthesia less frequent in patients with previous stroke (all P Risks of major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality were high for patients with stroke less than 3 months (20.7 and 16.4% events; OR = 4.71 [95% CI, 4.18 to 5.32] and 1.65 [95% CI, 1.45 to 1.88]), and remained...

TaHsfA6f is a transcriptional activator that regulates a suite of heat stress protection genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) including previously unknown Hsf targets.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Gang-Ping; Drenth, Janneke; McIntyre, C Lynne

2015-02-01

Heat stress is a significant environmental factor adversely affecting crop yield. Crop adaptation to high-temperature environments requires transcriptional reprogramming of a suite of genes involved in heat stress protection. This study investigated the role of TaHsfA6f, a member of the A6 subclass of heat shock transcription factors, in the regulation of heat stress protection genes in Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), a poorly understood phenomenon in this crop species. Expression analysis showed that TaHsfA6f was expressed constitutively in green organs but was markedly up-regulated during heat stress. Overexpression of TaHsfA6f in transgenic wheat using a drought-inducible promoter resulted in up-regulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and a number of other heat stress protection genes that included some previously unknown Hsf target genes such as Golgi anti-apoptotic protein (GAAP) and the large isoform of Rubisco activase. Transgenic wheat plants overexpressing TaHsfA6f showed improved thermotolerance. Transactivation assays showed that TaHsfA6f activated the expression of reporter genes driven by the promoters of several HSP genes (TaHSP16.8, TaHSP17, TaHSP17.3, and TaHSP90.1-A1) as well as TaGAAP and TaRof1 (a co-chaperone) under non-stress conditions. DNA binding analysis revealed the presence of high-affinity TaHsfA6f-binding heat shock element-like motifs in the promoters of these six genes. Promoter truncation and mutagenesis analyses identified TaHsfA6f-binding elements that were responsible for transactivation of TaHSP90.1-A1 and TaGAAP by TaHsfA6f. These data suggest that TaHsfA6f is a transcriptional activator that directly regulates TaHSP, TaGAAP, and TaRof1 genes in wheat and its gene regulatory network has a positive impact on thermotolerance. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Chaos Synchronization Based on Unknown Input Proportional Multiple-Integral Fuzzy Observer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Youssef

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an unknown input Proportional Multiple-Integral Observer (PIO for synchronization of chaotic systems based on Takagi-Sugeno (TS fuzzy chaotic models subject to unmeasurable decision variables and unknown input. In a secure communication configuration, this unknown input is regarded as a message encoded in the chaotic system and recovered by the proposed PIO. Both states and outputs of the fuzzy chaotic models are subject to polynomial unknown input with kth derivative zero. Using Lyapunov stability theory, sufficient design conditions for synchronization are proposed. The PIO gains matrices are obtained by resolving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs constraints. Simulation results show through two TS fuzzy chaotic models the validity of the proposed method.

Characterizing unknown systematics in large scale structure surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agarwal, Nishant; Ho, Shirley; Myers, Adam D.; Seo, Hee-Jong; Ross, Ashley J.; Bahcall, Neta; Brinkmann, Jonathan; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Muna, Demitri; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Yèche, Christophe; Pâris, Isabelle; Petitjean, Patrick; Schneider, Donald P.; Streblyanska, Alina; Weaver, Benjamin A.

2014-01-01

Photometric large scale structure (LSS) surveys probe the largest volumes in the Universe, but are inevitably limited by systematic uncertainties. Imperfect photometric calibration leads to biases in our measurements of the density fields of LSS tracers such as galaxies and quasars, and as a result in cosmological parameter estimation. Earlier studies have proposed using cross-correlations between different redshift slices or cross-correlations between different surveys to reduce the effects of such systematics. In this paper we develop a method to characterize unknown systematics. We demonstrate that while we do not have sufficient information to correct for unknown systematics in the data, we can obtain an estimate of their magnitude. We define a parameter to estimate contamination from unknown systematics using cross-correlations between different redshift slices and propose discarding bins in the angular power spectrum that lie outside a certain contamination tolerance level. We show that this method improves estimates of the bias using simulated data and further apply it to photometric luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as a case study

Characterizing unknown systematics in large scale structure surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agarwal, Nishant; Ho, Shirley [McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Myers, Adam D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States); Seo, Hee-Jong [Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, LBL and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Ross, Ashley J. [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom); Bahcall, Neta [Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Brinkmann, Jonathan [Apache Point Observatory, P.O. Box 59, Sunspot, NM 88349 (United States); Eisenstein, Daniel J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Muna, Demitri [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Yèche, Christophe [CEA, Centre de Saclay, Irfu/SPP, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Pâris, Isabelle [Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago (Chile); Petitjean, Patrick [Université Paris 6 et CNRS, Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis blvd. Arago, 75014 Paris (France); Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Streblyanska, Alina [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Weaver, Benjamin A., E-mail: nishanta@andrew.cmu.edu [Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003 (United States)

2014-04-01

Photometric large scale structure (LSS) surveys probe the largest volumes in the Universe, but are inevitably limited by systematic uncertainties. Imperfect photometric calibration leads to biases in our measurements of the density fields of LSS tracers such as galaxies and quasars, and as a result in cosmological parameter estimation. Earlier studies have proposed using cross-correlations between different redshift slices or cross-correlations between different surveys to reduce the effects of such systematics. In this paper we develop a method to characterize unknown systematics. We demonstrate that while we do not have sufficient information to correct for unknown systematics in the data, we can obtain an estimate of their magnitude. We define a parameter to estimate contamination from unknown systematics using cross-correlations between different redshift slices and propose discarding bins in the angular power spectrum that lie outside a certain contamination tolerance level. We show that this method improves estimates of the bias using simulated data and further apply it to photometric luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as a case study.

Glory on Venus and selection among the unknown UV absorbers

Science.gov (United States)

Petrova, Elena V.

2018-05-01

The comparison of the phase profiles of glories observed on the cloud top of Venus by the Venus Monitoring Camera (Venus Express) and the light-scattering characteristics of sulfuric acid droplets, containing admixtures with a high refractive index, makes it easier to choose between some candidates for the so-called unknown UV absorber in the Venus clouds. Since among the candidates there are materials wetted and not wetted by sulfuric acid, we analyze whether small submicron particles adhered to or embedded into the 1-μm H2SO4 droplets may actually change the glory pattern normally produced by homogeneous spherical particles and what the conditions are, under which the composite particles formed in heterogeneous nucleation may still produce a glory feature. We have found that one of the most frequently considered candidates, sulfur, can hardly be responsible for the contrasts observed at 0.365 μm on the upper clouds, since it is not wetted by sulfuric acid and submicron sulfur particles, serving as condensation nuclei for sulfuric acid, can only adhere to the H2SO4 droplets rather than be enveloped by them. Such droplets decorated by sulfur blobs substantially distort the glory feature characteristic of the scattering by spherical particles or even smooth it at all, while a glory pattern is practically always seen in the images of Venus taken at small phase angles. At the same time, the grains of the other UV absorbers that can be embedded in H2SO4 droplets, e.g., the widely discussed ferric chloride, pose no problem in terms of interpretation of the observations of glory.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Muthusamy, Hariharan; Polat, Kemal; Yaacob, Sazali

2015-01-01

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

Robust Fault Detection for Switched Fuzzy Systems With Unknown Input.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jian; Zhang, Huaguang; Wang, Yingchun; Sun, Xun

2017-10-03

This paper investigates the fault detection problem for a class of switched nonlinear systems in the T-S fuzzy framework. The unknown input is considered in the systems. A novel fault detection unknown input observer design method is proposed. Based on the proposed observer, the unknown input can be removed from the fault detection residual. The weighted H∞ performance level is considered to ensure the robustness. In addition, the weighted H₋ performance level is introduced, which can increase the sensibility of the proposed detection method. To verify the proposed scheme, a numerical simulation example and an electromechanical system simulation example are provided at the end of this paper.

Construction of Individual Morphological Brain Networks with Multiple Morphometric Features

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Chunlan Yang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In recent years, researchers have increased attentions to the morphological brain network, which is generally constructed by measuring the mathematical correlation across regions using a certain morphometric feature, such as regional cortical thickness and voxel intensity. However, cerebral structure can be characterized by various factors, such as regional volume, surface area, and curvature. Moreover, most of the morphological brain networks are population-based, which has limitations in the investigations of individual difference and clinical applications. Hence, we have extended previous studies by proposing a novel method for realizing the construction of an individual-based morphological brain network through a combination of multiple morphometric features. In particular, interregional connections are estimated using our newly introduced feature vectors, namely, the Pearson correlation coefficient of the concatenation of seven morphometric features. Experiments were performed on a healthy cohort of 55 subjects (24 males aged from 20 to 29 and 31 females aged from 20 to 28 each scanned twice, and reproducibility was evaluated through test–retest reliability. The robustness of morphometric features was measured firstly to select the more reproducible features to form the connectomes. Then the topological properties were analyzed and compared with previous reports of different modalities. Small-worldness was observed in all the subjects at the range of the entire network sparsity (20–40%, and configurations were comparable with previous findings at the sparsity of 23%. The spatial distributions of the hub were found to be significantly influenced by the individual variances, and the hubs obtained by averaging across subjects and sparsities showed correspondence with previous reports. The intraclass coefficient of graphic properties (clustering coefficient = 0.83, characteristic path length = 0.81, betweenness centrality = 0.78 indicates

Off-Policy Actor-Critic Structure for Optimal Control of Unknown Systems With Disturbances.

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Song, Ruizhuo; Lewis, Frank L; Wei, Qinglai; Zhang, Huaguang

2016-05-01

An optimal control method is developed for unknown continuous-time systems with unknown disturbances in this paper. The integral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm is presented to obtain the iterative control. Off-policy learning is used to allow the dynamics to be completely unknown. Neural networks are used to construct critic and action networks. It is shown that if there are unknown disturbances, off-policy IRL may not converge or may be biased. For reducing the influence of unknown disturbances, a disturbances compensation controller is added. It is proven that the weight errors are uniformly ultimately bounded based on Lyapunov techniques. Convergence of the Hamiltonian function is also proven. The simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed optimal control method for unknown systems with disturbances.

Rare features associated with Mobius syndrome: Report of two cases

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Rumela Ghosh

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Mobius syndrome is a rare congenital disorder with the preliminary diagnostic criteria of congenital facial and abducent nerve palsy. Involvement of other cranial nerves, too, is common. Prevalence rate of this syndrome is approximately 1 in 100,000 neonates. It is of unknown etiology with sporadic occurrence. However, data regarding the occurrence rate in India is limited. Features such as orofacial malformations, limb defects, and musculoskeletal, behavioral, and cognitive abnormalities might be associated. A thorough evaluation to identify the condition and establishing an adequate treatment plan is of utmost important in this condition. We are reporting clinical and radiographic features of Mobius syndrome in two cases along with unusual findings of limb and neck deformity.

Uncovering the unknown: A grounded theory study exploring the impact of self-awareness on the culture of feedback in residency education.

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Ramani, Subha; Könings, Karen; Mann, Karen V; van der Vleuten, Cees

2017-10-01

Self-assessment and reflection are essential for meaningful feedback. We aimed to explore whether the well-known Johari window model of self-awareness could guide feedback conversations between faculty and residents and enhance the institutional feedback culture. We had previously explored perceptions of residents and faculty regarding sociocultural factors impacting feedback. We re-analyzed data targeting themes related to self-assessment, reflection, feedback seeking and acceptance, aiming to generate individual and institutional feedback strategies applicable to each quadrant of the window. We identified the following themes for each quadrant: (1) Behaviors known to self and others - Validating the known; (2) Behaviors unknown to self but known to others - Accepting the blind; (3) Behaviors known to self and unknown to others - Disclosure of hidden; and (4) Behaviors unknown to self and others - Uncovering the unknown. Normalizing self-disclosure of limitations, encouraging feedback seeking, training in nonjudgmental feedback and providing opportunities for longitudinal relationships could promote self-awareness, ultimately expanding the "open" quadrant of the Johari window. The Johari window, a model of self-awareness in interpersonal communications, could provide a robust framework for individuals to improve their feedback conversations and institutions to design feedback initiatives that enhance its quality and impact.

[Badminton--unknown sport].

Science.gov (United States)

Zekan-Petrinović, Lidija

2007-01-01

For a long time, badminton was considered to be only a slow and light game for children, a game that is played outdoors and is structurally undemanding.Today, it is not an unknown and unrecognised sport, especially after it was included into the Olympics Games in 1992. Badminton is one of the oldest sports in the world. It is suitable for all ages (for children and elderly equally), women and men and even handicapped persons. Beginners can start playing badminton matches early because the basics are learned quickly. As a recreational activity, badminton is very popular in Zagreb. In the last 10 years, a number of halls specialized for badminton or offering badminton as one of available sports activities have been opened in Zagreb. At present, there are over 70 professional playgrounds for training of top contestants but also for the citizens who can play recreational badminton.

Detection of viral sequence fragments of HIV-1 subfamilies yet unknown

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Stanke Mario

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Methods of determining whether or not any particular HIV-1 sequence stems - completely or in part - from some unknown HIV-1 subtype are important for the design of vaccines and molecular detection systems, as well as for epidemiological monitoring. Nevertheless, a single algorithm only, the Branching Index (BI, has been developed for this task so far. Moving along the genome of a query sequence in a sliding window, the BI computes a ratio quantifying how closely the query sequence clusters with a subtype clade. In its current version, however, the BI does not provide predicted boundaries of unknown fragments. Results We have developed Unknown Subtype Finder (USF, an algorithm based on a probabilistic model, which automatically determines which parts of an input sequence originate from a subtype yet unknown. The underlying model is based on a simple profile hidden Markov model (pHMM for each known subtype and an additional pHMM for an unknown subtype. The emission probabilities of the latter are estimated using the emission frequencies of the known subtypes by means of a (position-wise probabilistic model for the emergence of new subtypes. We have applied USF to SIV and HIV-1 sequences formerly classified as having emerged from an unknown subtype. Moreover, we have evaluated its performance on artificial HIV-1 recombinants and non-recombinant HIV-1 sequences. The results have been compared with the corresponding results of the BI. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that USF is suitable for detecting segments in HIV-1 sequences stemming from yet unknown subtypes. Comparing USF with the BI shows that our algorithm performs as good as the BI or better.

Treatment recommendations for DSM-5-defined mixed features.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblat, Joshua D; McIntyre, Roger S

2017-04-01

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) mixed features specifier provides a less restrictive definition of mixed mood states, compared to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), including mood episodes that manifest with subthreshold symptoms of the opposite mood state. A limited number of studies have assessed the efficacy of treatments specifically for DSM-5-defined mixed features in mood disorders. As such, there is currently an inadequate amount of data to appropriately inform evidence-based treatment guidelines of DSM-5 defined mixed features. However, given the high prevalence and morbidity of mixed features, treatment recommendations based on the currently available evidence along with expert opinion may be of benefit. This article serves to provide these interim treatment recommendations while humbly acknowledging the limited amount of evidence currently available. Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) appear to have the greatest promise in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) with mixed features. Conventional mood stabilizing agents (ie, lithium and divalproex) may also be of benefit; however, they have been inadequately studied. In the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) with mixed features, the comparable efficacy of antidepressants versus other treatments, such as SGAs, remains unknown. As such, antidepressants remain first-line treatment of MDD with or without mixed features; however, there are significant safety concerns associated with antidepressant monotherapy when mixed features are present, which merits increased monitoring. Lurasidone is the only SGA monotherapy that has been shown to be efficacious specifically in the treatment of MDD with mixed features. Further research is needed to accurately determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of treatments specifically for mood episodes with mixed features to adequately inform

Psychological profile: the problem of modeling the unknown criminal personality

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Г. М. Гетьман

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The article investigates the problem of modeling an unknown person in the preparation of criminal psychological profile. Some approaches to the concept of "psychological profile" and "psychological portrait", in particular the proposed delineation of these terms. We consider the system steps in the development of the psychological profile of an unknown perpetrator.

Multifocal chronic osteomyelitis of unknown etiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozlowski, K.; Masel, J.; Harbison, S.; Yu, J.; Royal Brisbane Children Hospital; Regional Hospital Bowral

1983-01-01

Five cases of chronic, inflammatory, multifocal bone lesions of unknown etiology are reported. Although bone biopsy confirmed osteomyelitis in each case in none of them were organisms found inspite of an extensive work up. Different clinical course of the disease reflects different aetiology in respective cases. These cases present changing aspects of osteomyelitis emerging since introduction of antibiotics. (orig.)

Bayesian source term determination with unknown covariance of measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Belal, Alkomiet; Tichý, Ondřej; Šmídl, Václav

2017-04-01

Determination of a source term of release of a hazardous material into the atmosphere is a very important task for emergency response. We are concerned with the problem of estimation of the source term in the conventional linear inverse problem, y = Mx, where the relationship between the vector of observations y is described using the source-receptor-sensitivity (SRS) matrix M and the unknown source term x. Since the system is typically ill-conditioned, the problem is recast as an optimization problem minR,B(y - Mx)TR-1(y - Mx) + xTB-1x. The first term minimizes the error of the measurements with covariance matrix R, and the second term is a regularization of the source term. There are different types of regularization arising for different choices of matrices R and B, for example, Tikhonov regularization assumes covariance matrix B as the identity matrix multiplied by scalar parameter. In this contribution, we adopt a Bayesian approach to make inference on the unknown source term x as well as unknown R and B. We assume prior on x to be a Gaussian with zero mean and unknown diagonal covariance matrix B. The covariance matrix of the likelihood R is also unknown. We consider two potential choices of the structure of the matrix R. First is the diagonal matrix and the second is a locally correlated structure using information on topology of the measuring network. Since the inference of the model is intractable, iterative variational Bayes algorithm is used for simultaneous estimation of all model parameters. The practical usefulness of our contribution is demonstrated on an application of the resulting algorithm to real data from the European Tracer Experiment (ETEX). This research is supported by EEA/Norwegian Financial Mechanism under project MSMT-28477/2014 Source-Term Determination of Radionuclide Releases by Inverse Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling (STRADI).

Isolation and identification of some unknown substances in disposable nitrile-butadiene rubber gloves used for food handling.

Science.gov (United States)

Mutsuga, M; Wakui, C; Kawamura, Y; Maitani, T

2002-11-01

In Japan, disposable gloves made from nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) are frequently used in contact with foods. In a previous paper, we investigated substances migrating from various gloves made of polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, natural rubber and NBR. Zinc di-n-butyldithiocarbamate (ZDBC), diethyldithiocarbamate (ZDEC) used as vulcanization accelerators, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) used as a plasticizer and many unknown compounds that migrated from NBR gloves into n-heptane were detected by GC/MS. In this paper, six unknown compounds were obtained from one kind of NBR glove by n-hexane extraction and each was isolated by silica gel chromatography. From the results of NMR and mass spectral analysis of the six unknown compounds, their structures are proposed as 1,4-dione-2,5-bis(1,1-dimethylpropyl)cyclohexadiene (1), 2-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-(1,1,3,3-tetra methylbutyl)phenol (2), 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol (3), 2,4-bis(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol (4), 2-(1,1-dimethylethyl)4,6-bis(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol (5) and 2,4,6-tris(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol (6). Compound 1 was observed in five of the seven kinds of NBR gloves, and compounds 2-4 and 6, which are not listed in Chemical Abstract (CA), were present in four kinds of gloves.

Structural health monitoring feature design by genetic programming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, Dustin Y; Todd, Michael D

2014-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems provide real-time damage and performance information for civil, aerospace, and other high-capital or life-safety critical structures. Conventional data processing involves pre-processing and extraction of low-dimensional features from in situ time series measurements. The features are then input to a statistical pattern recognition algorithm to perform the relevant classification or regression task necessary to facilitate decisions by the SHM system. Traditional design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms can be an expensive and time-consuming process requiring extensive system knowledge and domain expertise. Genetic programming, a heuristic program search method from evolutionary computation, was recently adapted by the authors to perform automated, data-driven design of signal processing and feature extraction algorithms for statistical pattern recognition applications. The proposed method, called Autofead, is particularly suitable to handle the challenges inherent in algorithm design for SHM problems where the manifestation of damage in structural response measurements is often unclear or unknown. Autofead mines a training database of response measurements to discover information-rich features specific to the problem at hand. This study provides experimental validation on three SHM applications including ultrasonic damage detection, bearing damage classification for rotating machinery, and vibration-based structural health monitoring. Performance comparisons with common feature choices for each problem area are provided demonstrating the versatility of Autofead to produce significant algorithm improvements on a wide range of problems. (paper)

Feature Scaling via Second-Order Cone Programming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhizheng Liang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Feature scaling has attracted considerable attention during the past several decades because of its important role in feature selection. In this paper, a novel algorithm for learning scaling factors of features is proposed. It first assigns a nonnegative scaling factor to each feature of data and then adopts a generalized performance measure to learn the optimal scaling factors. It is of interest to note that the proposed model can be transformed into a convex optimization problem: second-order cone programming (SOCP. Thus the scaling factors of features in our method are globally optimal in some sense. Several experiments on simulated data, UCI data sets, and the gene data set are conducted to demonstrate that the proposed method is more effective than previous methods.

Poly-epiphyseal overgrowth: description of a previously unreported skeletal dysplasia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pazzaglia, Ugo E.; Bonaspetti, Giovanni [University of Brescia, Orthopaedic Clinic, Brescia (Italy); Beluffi, Giampiero [Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Department of Paediatric Radiology, Pavia (Italy); Marchi, Antonietta; Bozzola, Mauro; Savasta, Salvatore [Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Paediatric Clinic, University of Pavia, Pavia (Italy)

2007-10-15

A skeletal dysplasia with previously unreported features is presented. Its evolution was characterized by growth abnormalities of bones without involvement of other organs. Advanced bone age, increased stature and irregular epiphyseal ossification with stippling of the main long bones were documented. Physeal overgrowth was massive in the left proximal humerus and femur. Furthermore, the hip joint appeared fused with an abundant mass of pathological calcific tissue extending from the femur to the ilium. Pathological epiphyses were characterized by anarchic cartilaginous proliferation with multiple ossification centres, while lamellar bone apposition and remodelling were normal. The observed bone changes were different from those in any previously reported syndrome, metabolic defect or bone dysplasia. However, they clearly indicated a defect of endochondral ossification with some resemblance to phenotypes observed in dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica. (orig.)

Poly-epiphyseal overgrowth: description of a previously unreported skeletal dysplasia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pazzaglia, Ugo E.; Bonaspetti, Giovanni; Beluffi, Giampiero; Marchi, Antonietta; Bozzola, Mauro; Savasta, Salvatore

2007-01-01

A skeletal dysplasia with previously unreported features is presented. Its evolution was characterized by growth abnormalities of bones without involvement of other organs. Advanced bone age, increased stature and irregular epiphyseal ossification with stippling of the main long bones were documented. Physeal overgrowth was massive in the left proximal humerus and femur. Furthermore, the hip joint appeared fused with an abundant mass of pathological calcific tissue extending from the femur to the ilium. Pathological epiphyses were characterized by anarchic cartilaginous proliferation with multiple ossification centres, while lamellar bone apposition and remodelling were normal. The observed bone changes were different from those in any previously reported syndrome, metabolic defect or bone dysplasia. However, they clearly indicated a defect of endochondral ossification with some resemblance to phenotypes observed in dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica. (orig.)

Fast grasping of unknown objects using principal component analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Qujiang; Chen, Guangming; Wisse, Martijn

2017-09-01

Fast grasping of unknown objects has crucial impact on the efficiency of robot manipulation especially subjected to unfamiliar environments. In order to accelerate grasping speed of unknown objects, principal component analysis is utilized to direct the grasping process. In particular, a single-view partial point cloud is constructed and grasp candidates are allocated along the principal axis. Force balance optimization is employed to analyze possible graspable areas. The obtained graspable area with the minimal resultant force is the best zone for the final grasping execution. It is shown that an unknown object can be more quickly grasped provided that the component analysis principle axis is determined using single-view partial point cloud. To cope with the grasp uncertainty, robot motion is assisted to obtain a new viewpoint. Virtual exploration and experimental tests are carried out to verify this fast gasping algorithm. Both simulation and experimental tests demonstrated excellent performances based on the results of grasping a series of unknown objects. To minimize the grasping uncertainty, the merits of the robot hardware with two 3D cameras can be utilized to suffice the partial point cloud. As a result of utilizing the robot hardware, the grasping reliance is highly enhanced. Therefore, this research demonstrates practical significance for increasing grasping speed and thus increasing robot efficiency under unpredictable environments.

Face Alignment via Regressing Local Binary Features.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Shaoqing; Cao, Xudong; Wei, Yichen; Sun, Jian

2016-03-01

This paper presents a highly efficient and accurate regression approach for face alignment. Our approach has two novel components: 1) a set of local binary features and 2) a locality principle for learning those features. The locality principle guides us to learn a set of highly discriminative local binary features for each facial landmark independently. The obtained local binary features are used to jointly learn a linear regression for the final output. This approach achieves the state-of-the-art results when tested on the most challenging benchmarks to date. Furthermore, because extracting and regressing local binary features are computationally very cheap, our system is much faster than previous methods. It achieves over 3000 frames per second (FPS) on a desktop or 300 FPS on a mobile phone for locating a few dozens of landmarks. We also study a key issue that is important but has received little attention in the previous research, which is the face detector used to initialize alignment. We investigate several face detectors and perform quantitative evaluation on how they affect alignment accuracy. We find that an alignment friendly detector can further greatly boost the accuracy of our alignment method, reducing the error up to 16% relatively. To facilitate practical usage of face detection/alignment methods, we also propose a convenient metric to measure how good a detector is for alignment initialization.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Kevin R; Kemp, Richard I

2007-01-01

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

18F-FDG-PET/CT in fever of unknown origin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Middelbo Buch-Olsen, Karen; Andersen, Rikke V; Hess, Søren

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Fever of unknown origin continues to be a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. The aim of this study was to confirm whether (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG)-PET/computed tomography (CT) is a helpful tool in patients suffering from this condition. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty......-seven patients with fever of unknown origin were examined with (18)F-FDG-PET/CT as part of their diagnostic workup at the clinicians' discretion. The medical records were read retrospectively to establish the final diagnosis and evaluate the degree to which PET/CT contributed to the diagnosis. RESULTS......-FDG-PET/CT is a useful tool in the investigation of fever of unknown origin; it can reduce patient inconvenience and possibly costs to society if used earlier in the diagnostic process....

Endemic chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka: Correlation of pathology with clinical stages.

Science.gov (United States)

Wijetunge, S; Ratnatunga, N V I; Abeysekera, T D J; Wazil, A W M; Selvarajah, M

2015-01-01

Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDU) is endemic among the rural farming communities in several localities in and around the North Central region of Sri Lanka. This is an interstitial type renal disease and typically has an insidious onset and slow progression. This study was conducted to identify the pathological features in the different clinical stages of CKDU. This is a retrospective study of 251 renal biopsies identified to have a primary interstitial disease from regions endemic for CKDU. Pathological features were assessed and graded in relation to the clinical stage. The mean age of those affected by endemic CKDU was 37.3 ± 12.5 years and the male to female ratio was 3.3:1. The predominant feature of stage I disease was mild and moderate interstitial fibrosis; most did not have interstitial inflammation. The typical stage II disease had moderate interstitial fibrosis with or without mild interstitial inflammation. Stage III disease had moderate and severe interstitial fibrosis, moderate interstitial inflammation, tubular atrophy and some glomerulosclerosis. Stage IV disease typically had severe interstitial fibrosis and inflammation, tubular atrophy and glomerulosclerosis. The mean age of patients with stage I disease (27 ± 10.8 years) was significantly lower than those of the other stages. About 79.2%, 55%, 49.1% and 50% in stage I, II, III and IV disease respectively were asymptomatic at the time of biopsy.

Turkish Music Genre Classification using Audio and Lyrics Features

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Önder ÇOBAN

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Music Information Retrieval (MIR has become a popular research area in recent years. In this context, researchers have developed music information systems to find solutions for such major problems as automatic playlist creation, hit song detection, and music genre or mood classification. Meta-data information, lyrics, or melodic content of music are used as feature resource in previous works. However, lyrics do not often used in MIR systems and the number of works in this field is not enough especially for Turkish. In this paper, firstly, we have extended our previously created Turkish MIR (TMIR dataset, which comprises of Turkish lyrics, by including the audio file of each song. Secondly, we have investigated the effect of using audio and textual features together or separately on automatic Music Genre Classification (MGC. We have extracted textual features from lyrics using different feature extraction models such as word2vec and traditional Bag of Words. We have conducted our experiments on Support Vector Machine (SVM algorithm and analysed the impact of feature selection and different feature groups on MGC. We have considered lyrics based MGC as a text classification task and also investigated the effect of term weighting method. Experimental results show that textual features can also be effective as well as audio features for Turkish MGC, especially when a supervised term weighting method is employed. We have achieved the highest success rate as 99,12\\% by using both audio and textual features together.

Drosophila transposon insertions as unknowns for structured inquiry recombination mapping exercises in an undergraduate genetics course.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, Jeffrey M; Hughes, Tia M

2009-06-01

Structured inquiry approaches, in which students receive a Drosophila strain of unknown genotype to analyze and map the constituent mutations, are a common feature of many genetics teaching laboratories. The required crosses frustrate many students because they are aware that they are participating in a fundamentally trivial exercise, as the map locations of the genes are already established and have been recalculated thousands of times by generations of students. We modified the traditional structured inquiry approach to include a novel research experience for the students in our undergraduate genetics laboratories. Students conducted crosses with Drosophila strains carrying P[lacW] transposon insertions in genes without documented recombination map positions, representing a large number of unique, but equivalent genetic unknowns. Using the eye color phenotypes associated with the inserts as visible markers, it is straightforward to calculate recombination map positions for the interrupted loci. Collectively, our students mapped 95 genetic loci on chromosomes 2 and 3. In most cases, the calculated 95% confidence interval for meiotic map location overlapped with the predicted map position based on cytology. The research experience evoked positive student responses and helped students better understand the nature of scientific research for little additional cost or instructor effort.

Intraabdominal abscessus of unknown etiology

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Čolović Radoje

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Intraabdominal abscesses are in 98-99% cases the result of secondary and only in 1-2% of primary peritonitis. They are easy and successfully diagnosed. Abdominal abscesses of unknown cause are extremely rare. Case Outline. The authors present a 68-year-old man, without significant data in past history, who suddenly developed epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting and leukocytosis which was treated with antibiotics resulting in the alleviation of complaints and reduction of white blood cells count. After five days ultrasonography showed incapsulated collection of dense fluid in the epigastrium confirmed by CT scan two days later. Upper endoscopy excluded ulcer and/or perforation of the stomach and duodenum. Under local anesthesia, through the upper part of the left rectal muscle, puncture followed by incision was done, and about 50 ml of dense pus was removed. Finger exploration of the cavity showed no foreign body within the cavity. Using drainage, the recovery was quick and uneventful. By preoperative and postoperative abdominal investigations no cause of the abscess was found. Two and a half years after surgery the patient remained symptom-free with normal clinical, laboratory and ultrasonographic findings. Conclusion. The authors presented an intraabdominal abscess of unknown cause that was successfully treated with antibiotics, percutaneous puncture and drainage under local anaesthesia. In spite of all diagnostic methods the cause of the abscess could not be found. Thus, such a possibility, although being rare, should be taken into account.

Long-term effects of previous oxandrolone treatment in adult women with Turner syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

K. Freriks (Kim); T.C.J. Sas (Theo); T. Traas (Theo); R.T. Netea-Maier (Romana ); M. den Heijer (Martin); A.R.M.M. Hermus (Ad); J.M. Wit (Jan); J.A.E.M. Van Alfen-van Der Velden (Janiëlle A. E.); B.J. Otten (Barto); S.M.P.F. de Muinck Keizer-Schrama (Sabine); M. Gotthardt (Martin); P.H. Dejonckere (Philippe); G.R.J. Zandwijken (Gladys); L.A. Menke (Leonie); H.J.L.M. Timmers

2013-01-01

textabstractObjective: Short stature is a prominent feature of Turner syndrome (TS), which is partially overcome by GH treatment. We have previously reported the results of a trial on the effect of oxandrolone (Ox) in girls with TS. Ox in a dose of 0.03 mg/kg per day (Ox 0.03) significantly

Scheme for teleportation of unknown states of trapped ion

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Chen Mei-Feng; Ma Song-She

2008-01-01

A scheme is presented for teleporting an unknown state in a trapped ion system.The scheme only requires a single laser beam.It allows the trap to be in any state with a few phonons,e.g.a thermal motion.Furthermore,it works in the regime,where the Rabi frequency of the laser is on the order of the trap frequency.Thus,the teleportation speed is greatly increased,which is important for decreasing the decoherence effect.This idea can also be used to teleport an unknown ionic entangled state.

Detection of unknown primary neuroendocrine tumours (CUP-NET) using 68Ga-DOTA-NOC receptor PET/CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prasad, Vikas; Baum, Richard P.; Ambrosini, Valentina; Fanti, Stefano; Hommann, Merten; Hoersch, Dieter

2010-01-01

This bi-centric study aimed to determine the role of receptor PET/CT using 68 Ga-DOTA-NOC in the detection of undiagnosed primary sites of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and to understand the molecular behaviour of the primarily undiagnosed tumours. Overall 59 patients (33 men and 26 women, age: 65 ± 9 years) with documented NET and unknown primary were enrolled. PET/CT was performed after injection of approximately 100 MBq (46-260 MBq) of 68 Ga-DOTA-NOC. The maximum standardised uptake values (SUV max ) were calculated and compared with SUV max in known pancreatic NET (pNET) and ileum/jejunum/duodenum (SI-NET). The results of PET/CT were also correlated with CT alone. In 35 of 59 patients (59%), 68 Ga-DOTA-NOC PET/CT localised the site of the primary: ileum/jejunum (14), pancreas (16), rectum/colon (2), lungs (2) and paraganglioma (1). CT alone (on retrospective analyses) confirmed the findings in 12 of 59 patients (20%). The mean SUV max of identified previously unknown pNET and SI-NET were 18.6 ± 9.8 (range: 7.8-34.8) and 9.1 ± 6.0 (range: 4.2-27.8), respectively. SUV max in patients with previously known pNET and SI-NET were 26.1 ± 14.5 (range: 8.7-42.4) and 11.3 ± 3.7 (range: 5.6-17.9). The SUV max of the unknown pNET and SI-NET were significantly lower (p 68 Ga-DOTA-NOC receptor PET/CT, 6 of 59 patients were operated and the primary was removed (4 pancreatic, 1 ileal and 1 rectal tumour) resulting in a management change in approximately 10% of the patients. In the remaining 29 patients, because of the far advanced stage of the disease (due to distant metastases), the primary tumours were not operated. Additional histopathological sampling was available from one patient with bronchial carcinoid (through bronchoscopy). Our data indicate that 68 Ga-DOTA-NOC PET/CT is highly superior to 111 In-OctreoScan (39% detection rate for CUP according to the literature) and can play a major role in the management of patients with CUP-NET. (orig.)

Prevalence and Impact of Unknown Diabetes in the ICU.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, David L; Gregg, Sara R; Xu, Kejun; Buchman, Timothy G; Coopersmith, Craig M

2015-12-01

Many patients with diabetes and their care providers are unaware of the presence of the disease. Dysglycemia encompassing hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and glucose variability is common in the ICU in patients with and without diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of unknown diabetes on glycemic control in the ICU. Prospective observational study. Nine ICUs in an academic, tertiary hospital and a hybrid academic/community hospital. Hemoglobin A1c levels were ordered at all ICU admissions from March 1, 2011 to September 30, 2013. Electronic medical records were examined for a history of antihyperglycemic medications or International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition diagnosis of diabetes. Patients were categorized as having unknown diabetes (hemoglobin A1c > 6.5%, without history of diabetes), no diabetes (hemoglobin A1c 6.5%, with documented history of diabetes). None. A total of 15,737 patients had an hemoglobin A1c and medical record evaluable for the history of diabetes, and 5,635 patients had diabetes diagnosed by either medical history or an elevated hemoglobin A1c in the ICU. Of these, 1,460 patients had unknown diabetes, accounting for 26.0% of all patients with diabetes. This represented 41.0% of patients with an hemoglobin A1c > 6.5% and 9.3% of all ICU patients. Compared with patients without diabetes, patients with unknown diabetes had a higher likelihood of requiring an insulin infusion (44.3% vs 29.3%; p 180 mg/dL; p < 0.0001) and hypoglycemia (8.9% vs 2.5%; blood glucose < 70 mg/dL; p < 0.0001), higher glycemic variability (55.6 vs 28.8, average of patient SD of glucose; p < 0.0001), and increased mortality (13.8% vs 11.4%; p = 0.01). Patients with unknown diabetes represent a significant percentage of ICU admissions. Measurement of hemoglobin A1c at admission can prospectively identify a population that are not known to have diabetes but have significant challenges in glycemic control in the ICU.

A New Species of Pengornithidae (Aves: Enantiornithes) from the Lower Cretaceous of China Suggests a Specialized Scansorial Habitat Previously Unknown in Early Birds

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Han; O’Connor, Jingmai K.; Zhou, Zhonghe

2015-01-01

We describe a new enantiornithine bird, Parapengornis eurycaudatus gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. Although morphologically similar to previously described pengornithids Pengornis houi, Pengornis IVPP V18632, and Eopengornis martini, morphological differences indicate it represents a new taxon of the Pengornithidae. Based on new information from this specimen we reassign IVPP V18632 to Parapengornis sp. The well preserved pygostyle of the new specimen elucidates the morphology of this element for the clade, which is unique in pengornithids among Mesozoic birds. Similarities with modern scansores such as woodpeckers may indicate a specialized vertical climbing and clinging behavior that has not previously been inferred for early birds. The new specimen preserves a pair of fully pennaceous rachis-dominated feathers like those in the holotype of Eopengornis martini; together with the unique morphology of the pygostyle, this discovery lends evidence to early hypotheses that rachis-dominated feathers may have had a functional significance. This discovery adds to the diversity of ecological niches occupied by enantiornithines and if correct reveals are remarkable amount of locomotive differentiation among Enantiornithes. PMID:26039693

A new species of pengornithidae (aves: enantiornithes from the lower cretaceous of China suggests a specialized scansorial habitat previously unknown in early birds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Hu

Full Text Available We describe a new enantiornithine bird, Parapengornis eurycaudatus gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. Although morphologically similar to previously described pengornithids Pengornis houi, Pengornis IVPP V18632, and Eopengornis martini, morphological differences indicate it represents a new taxon of the Pengornithidae. Based on new information from this specimen we reassign IVPP V18632 to Parapengornis sp. The well preserved pygostyle of the new specimen elucidates the morphology of this element for the clade, which is unique in pengornithids among Mesozoic birds. Similarities with modern scansores such as woodpeckers may indicate a specialized vertical climbing and clinging behavior that has not previously been inferred for early birds. The new specimen preserves a pair of fully pennaceous rachis-dominated feathers like those in the holotype of Eopengornis martini; together with the unique morphology of the pygostyle, this discovery lends evidence to early hypotheses that rachis-dominated feathers may have had a functional significance. This discovery adds to the diversity of ecological niches occupied by enantiornithines and if correct reveals are remarkable amount of locomotive differentiation among Enantiornithes.

NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine impairs feature integration in visual perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Meuwese, Julia D I; van Loon, Anouk M; Scholte, H Steven; Lirk, Philipp B; Vulink, Nienke C C; Hollmann, Markus W; Lamme, Victor A F

2013-01-01

Recurrent interactions between neurons in the visual cortex are crucial for the integration of image elements into coherent objects, such as in figure-ground segregation of textured images. Blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in monkeys can abolish neural signals related to figure-ground segregation and feature integration. However, it is unknown whether this also affects perceptual integration itself. Therefore, we tested whether ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, reduces feature integration in humans. We administered a subanesthetic dose of ketamine to healthy subjects who performed a texture discrimination task in a placebo-controlled double blind within-subject design. We found that ketamine significantly impaired performance on the texture discrimination task compared to the placebo condition, while performance on a control fixation task was much less impaired. This effect is not merely due to task difficulty or a difference in sedation levels. We are the first to show a behavioral effect on feature integration by manipulating the NMDA receptor in humans.

NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine impairs feature integration in visual perception.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia D I Meuwese

Full Text Available Recurrent interactions between neurons in the visual cortex are crucial for the integration of image elements into coherent objects, such as in figure-ground segregation of textured images. Blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA receptors in monkeys can abolish neural signals related to figure-ground segregation and feature integration. However, it is unknown whether this also affects perceptual integration itself. Therefore, we tested whether ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, reduces feature integration in humans. We administered a subanesthetic dose of ketamine to healthy subjects who performed a texture discrimination task in a placebo-controlled double blind within-subject design. We found that ketamine significantly impaired performance on the texture discrimination task compared to the placebo condition, while performance on a control fixation task was much less impaired. This effect is not merely due to task difficulty or a difference in sedation levels. We are the first to show a behavioral effect on feature integration by manipulating the NMDA receptor in humans.

Integration of pore features into the evaluation of fingerprint evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Anthonioz, Alexandre; Champod, Christophe

2014-01-01

Fingerprint practitioners rely on level 3 features to make decisions in relation to the source of an unknown friction ridge skin impression. This research proposes to assess the strength of evidence associated with pores when shown in (dis)agreement between a mark and a reference print. Based upon an algorithm designed to automatically detect pores, a metric is defined in order to compare different impressions. From this metric, the weight of the findings is quantified using a likelihood ratio. The results obtained on four configurations and 54 donors show the significant contribution of the pore features and translate into statistical terms what latent fingerprint examiners have developed holistically through experience. The system provides LRs that are indicative of the true state under both the prosecution and the defense propositions. Not only such a system brings transparency regarding the weight to assign to such features, but also forces a discussion in relation to the risks of such a model to mislead. © 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Mediastinal involvement in lymphangiomatosis: a previously unreported MRI sign

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shah, Vikas; Shah, Sachit; Barnacle, Alex; McHugh, Kieran [Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Department of Radiology, London (United Kingdom); Sebire, Neil J. [Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Department of Histopathology, London (United Kingdom); Brock, Penelope [Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Department of Oncology, London (United Kingdom); Harper, John I. [Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Department of Dermatology, London (United Kingdom)

2011-08-15

Multifocal lymphangiomatosis is a rare systemic disorder affecting children. Due to its rarity and wide spectrum of clinical, histological and imaging features, establishing the diagnosis of multifocal lymphangiomatosis can be challenging. The purpose of this study was to describe a new imaging sign in this disorder: paraspinal soft tissue and signal abnormality at MRI. We retrospectively reviewed the imaging, clinical and histopathological findings in a cohort of eight children with thoracic involvement from this condition. Evidence of paraspinal chest disease was identified at MRI and CT in all eight of these children. The changes comprise heterogeneous intermediate-to-high signal parallel to the thoracic vertebrae on T2-weighted sequences at MRI, with abnormal paraspinal soft tissue at CT and plain radiography. Multifocal lymphangiomatosis is a rare disorder with a broad range of clinicopathological and imaging features. MRI allows complete evaluation of disease extent without the use of ionising radiation and has allowed us to describe a previously unreported imaging sign in this disorder, namely, heterogeneous hyperintense signal in abnormal paraspinal tissue on T2-weighted images. (orig.)

Long-term effects of previous oxandrolone treatment in adult women with Turner syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Freriks, K.; Sas, T.C.J.; Traas, M.A.F.; Netea-Maier, R.T.; Heijer, M. den; Hermus, A.R.M.M.; Wit, J.M.; Alfen-van der Velden, J. van; Otten, B.J.; Muinck Keizer-Schrama, S.M.P.F. de; Gotthardt, M.; Dejonckere, P.H.; Zandwijken, G.R.; Menke, L.A.; Timmers, H.J.L.M.

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Short stature is a prominent feature of Turner syndrome (TS), which is partially overcome by GH treatment. We have previously reported the results of a trial on the effect of oxandrolone (Ox) in girls with TS. Ox in a dose of 0.03 mg/kg per day (Ox 0.03) significantly increased adult

Learning to Recognize Features of Valid Textual Entailments

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

MacCartney, Bill; Grenager, Trond; Marneffe, Marie-Catherine de; Cer, Daniel; Manning, Christopher D

2006-01-01

.... Instead we propose a pipelined approach where alignment is followed by a classification step, in which we extract features representing high-level characteristics of the entailment problem, and pass the resulting feature vector to a statistical classifier trained on development data. We report results on data from the 2005 Pascal RTE Challenge which surpass previously reported results for alignment-based systems.

Decentralised output feedback control of Markovian jump interconnected systems with unknown interconnections

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Li-Wei; Yang, Guang-Hong

2017-07-01

The problem of decentralised output feedback control is addressed for Markovian jump interconnected systems with unknown interconnections and general transition rates (TRs) allowed to be unknown or known with uncertainties. A class of decentralised dynamic output feedback controllers are constructed, and a cyclic-small-gain condition is exploited to dispose the unknown interconnections so that the resultant closed-loop system is stochastically stable and satisfies an H∞ performance. With slack matrices to cope with the nonlinearities incurred by unknown and uncertain TRs in control synthesis, a novel controller design condition is developed in linear matrix inequality formalism. Compared with the existing works, the proposed approach leads to less conservatism. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the new results.

Renal disease masquerading as pyrexia of unknown origin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D Korivi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Pyrexia of unknown origin is a challenging clinical problem. Infections, malignancies, and connective tissue diseases form the major etiologies for this condition. We report a case of a 57-year-old diabetic male who presented with fever of unknown origin for several months. The course of investigations led to a kidney biopsy which clinched the cause of his fever as well as the underlying diagnosis. The light microscopy findings of expansile storiform fibrosis with a dense inflammatory infiltrate suggested the diagnosis which was confirmed by positive staining of Immunoglobulin G4, the dense lympho-plasmacytic infiltrate and elevated serum IgG4 concentrations. A course of steroids followed by mycophenolate mofetil as maintenance immunosuppression rendered the patient afebrile with improvement of renal function.

Autonomous Flight in Unknown Indoor Environments

OpenAIRE

Bachrach, Abraham Galton; He, Ruijie; Roy, Nicholas

2009-01-01

This paper presents our solution for enabling a quadrotor helicopter, equipped with a laser rangefinder sensor, to autonomously explore and map unstructured and unknown indoor environments. While these capabilities are already commodities on ground vehicles, air vehicles seeking the same performance face unique challenges. In this paper, we describe the difficulties in achieving fully autonomous helicopter flight, highlighting the differences between ground and helicopter robots that make it ...

Designing towards the Unknown: Engaging with Material and Aesthetic Uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danielle Wilde

2017-12-01

Full Text Available New materials with new capabilities demand new ways of approaching design. Destabilising existing methods is crucial to develop new methods. Yet, radical destabilisation—where outcomes remain unknown long enough that new discoveries become possible—is not easy in technology design where complex interdisciplinary teams with time and resource constraints need to deliver concrete outcomes on schedule. The Poetic Kinaesthetic Interface project (PKI engages with this problematic directly. In PKI we use unfolding processes—informed by participatory, speculative and critical design—in emergent actions, to design towards unknown outcomes, using unknown materials. The impossibility of this task is proving as useful as it is disruptive. At its most potent, it is destabilising expectations, aesthetics and processes. Keeping the researchers, collaborators and participants in a state of unknowing, is opening the research potential to far-ranging possibilities. In this article we unpack the motivations driving the PKI project. We present our mixed-methodology, which entangles textile crafts, design interactions and materiality to shape an embodied enquiry. Our research outcomes are procedural and methodological. PKI brings together diverse human, non-human, known and unknown actors to discover where the emergent assemblages might lead. Our approach is re-invigorating—as it demands re-envisioning of—the design process.

Value of Bone marrow Examination in Pyrexia of unknown origin

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A Jha

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Pyrexia of unknown origin is a common diagnostic dilemma. Series of diagnostic modalities are required to arrive at diagnosis. Bone marrow examination is one of the common tests implicated in the diagnosis in combination with other diagnostic modalities. Present study has attempted to explore the causes of pyrexia of unknown origin based on bone marrow morphological study. Materials and Methods: In a one year prospective study conducted at Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal; bone marrow aspiration and biopsy was performed and evaluated morphologically, in 57 patients fulfilling the criteria of classic pyrexia of unknown origin. Results: In 42% cases; specific diagnosis could be made and hematological neoplasm was the most common finding followed by megaloblastic anemia, hypoplastic anemia and one case each of hemophagocytosis, malaria and tuberculosis. Acute leukemia was the most frequently encountered hematological malignancy followed by multiple myeloma, chronic myeloid leukemia, essential thrombocythemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. Conclusion: Morphological examination of bone marrow has important role in diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin. However, yield of diagnosis can be increased if it is combined with other diagnostic modalities including radiological, microbiological and serological tests. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v3i6.8991 Journal of Pathology of Nepal (2013 Vol. 3, 447-451

Feature-Based versus Category-Based Induction with Uncertain Categories

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Oren; Hayes, Brett K.; Newell, Ben R.

2012-01-01

Previous research has suggested that when feature inferences have to be made about an instance whose category membership is uncertain, feature-based inductive reasoning is used to the exclusion of category-based induction. These results contrast with the observation that people can and do use category-based induction when category membership is…

Designing attractive gamification features for collaborative storytelling websites.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Shang Hwa; Chang, Jen-Wei; Lee, Chun-Chia

2013-06-01

Gamification design is considered as the predictor of collaborative storytelling websites' success. Although aforementioned studies have mentioned a broad range of factors that may influence gamification, they neither depicted the actual design features nor relative attractiveness among them. This study aims to identify attractive gamification features for collaborative storytelling websites. We first constructed a hierarchical system structure of gamification design of collaborative storytelling websites and conducted a focus group interview with eighteen frequent users to identify 35gamification features. After that, this study determined the relative attractiveness of these gamification features by administrating an online survey to 6333 collaborative storytelling websites users. The results indicated that the top 10 most attractive gamification features could account for more than 50% of attractiveness among these 35 gamification features. The feature of unpredictable time pressure is important to website users, yet not revealed in previous relevant studies. Implications of the findings were discussed.

Patterns of Dysmorphic Features in Schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

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

2011-01-01

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

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Jovan, Sarah E.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Burstyn, Igor; Michael, Yvonne L.; Amacher, Michael C.; Monleon, Vicente J.

2016-01-01

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50 m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon–Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500 m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500 m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120 m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4 ng/m"3, which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6 ng/m"3, and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1 ng/m"3 for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67 ng/m"3 for stained-glass manufacturer #2. - Highlights: • Bio-indicators are a valid method for measuring atmospheric pollutants • We used moss to map atmospheric cadmium in Portland, Oregon • Using a spatial linear model, we identified two stained-glass manufacturers as the major sources of atmospheric cadmium in Portland • After both companies suspended cadmium use, atmospheric levels declined precipitously

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donovan, Geoffrey H., E-mail: gdonovan@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Jovan, Sarah E., E-mail: sjovan@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Gatziolis, Demetrios, E-mail: dgatziolis@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205 (United States); Burstyn, Igor, E-mail: igor.burstyn@drexel.edu [Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Michael, Yvonne L., E-mail: ylm23@drexel.edu [Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Amacher, Michael C., E-mail: mcamacher1@outlook.com [USDA Forest Service, Logan Forest Sciences Laboratory, 860 North 1200 East, Logan, UT 84321 (United States); Monleon, Vicente J., E-mail: vjmonleon@fs.fed.us [USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331 (United States)

2016-07-15

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50 m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon–Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500 m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500 m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120 m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4 ng/m{sup 3}, which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6 ng/m{sup 3}, and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1 ng/m{sup 3} for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67 ng/m{sup 3} for stained-glass manufacturer #2. - Highlights: • Bio-indicators are a valid method for measuring atmospheric pollutants • We used moss to map atmospheric cadmium in Portland, Oregon • Using a spatial linear model, we identified two stained-glass manufacturers as the major sources of atmospheric cadmium in Portland • After both companies suspended cadmium use, atmospheric levels declined precipitously.

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, Geoffrey H; Jovan, Sarah E; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Burstyn, Igor; Michael, Yvonne L; Amacher, Michael C; Monleon, Vicente J

2016-07-15

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting. We collected 346 samples of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from deciduous trees in December, 2013 using a modified randomized grid-based sampling strategy across Portland, Oregon. We estimated a spatial linear model of moss cadmium levels and predicted cadmium on a 50m grid across the city. Cadmium levels in moss were positively correlated with proximity to two stained-glass manufacturers, proximity to the Oregon-Washington border, and percent industrial land in a 500m buffer, and negatively correlated with percent residential land in a 500m buffer. The maps showed very high concentrations of cadmium around the two stained-glass manufacturers, neither of which were known to environmental regulators as cadmium emitters. In addition, in response to our findings, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality placed an instrumental monitor 120m from the larger stained-glass manufacturer in October, 2015. The monthly average atmospheric cadmium concentration was 29.4ng/m(3), which is 49 times higher than Oregon's benchmark of 0.6ng/m(3), and high enough to pose a health risk from even short-term exposure. Both stained-glass manufacturers voluntarily stopped using cadmium after the monitoring results were made public, and the monthly average cadmium levels precipitously dropped to 1.1ng/m(3) for stained-glass manufacturer #1 and 0.67ng/m(3) for stained-glass manufacturer #2. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Using an epiphytic moss to identify previously unknown sources of atmospheric cadmium pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Geoffrey H. Donovan; Sarah E. Jovan; Demetrios Gatziolis; Igor Burstyn; Yvonne L. Michael; Michael C. Amacher; Vicente J. Monleon

2016-01-01

Urban networks of air-quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify sources of air pollutants, especially if they do not disperse far from emission sources. The objectives of this study were to test the use of moss bio-indicators to develop a fine-scale map of atmospherically-derived cadmium and to identify the sources of cadmium in a complex urban setting....

Towards high-speed autonomous navigation of unknown environments

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Charles; Roy, Nicholas

2015-05-01

In this paper, we summarize recent research enabling high-speed navigation in unknown environments for dynamic robots that perceive the world through onboard sensors. Many existing solutions to this problem guarantee safety by making the conservative assumption that any unknown portion of the map may contain an obstacle, and therefore constrain planned motions to lie entirely within known free space. In this work, we observe that safety constraints may significantly limit performance and that faster navigation is possible if the planner reasons about collision with unobserved obstacles probabilistically. Our overall approach is to use machine learning to approximate the expected costs of collision using the current state of the map and the planned trajectory. Our contribution is to demonstrate fast but safe planning using a learned function to predict future collision probabilities.

Elimination of some unknown parameters and its effect on outlier detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Serif Hekimoglu

Full Text Available Outliers in observation set badly affect all the estimated unknown parameters and residuals, that is because outlier detection has a great importance for reliable estimation results. Tests for outliers (e.g. Baarda's and Pope's tests are frequently used to detect outliers in geodetic applications. In order to reduce the computational time, sometimes elimination of some unknown parameters, which are not of interest, is performed. In this case, although the estimated unknown parameters and residuals do not change, the cofactor matrix of the residuals and the redundancies of the observations change. In this study, the effects of the elimination of the unknown parameters on tests for outliers have been investigated. We have proved that the redundancies in initial functional model (IFM are smaller than the ones in reduced functional model (RFM where elimination is performed. To show this situation, a horizontal control network was simulated and then many experiences were performed. According to simulation results, tests for outlier in IFM are more reliable than the ones in RFM.

Visual Search for Feature and Conjunction Targets with an Attention Deficit

OpenAIRE

Arguin, Martin; Joanette, Yves; Cavanagh, Patrick

1993-01-01

Brain-damaged subjects who had previously been identified as suffering from a visual attention deficit for contralesional stimulation were tested on a series of visual search tasks. The experiments examined the hypothesis that the processing of single features is preattentive but that feature integration, necessary for the correct perception of conjunctions of features, requires attention (Treisman & Gelade, 1980 Treisman & Sato, 1990). Subjects searched for a feature target (orientation or c...

Endemic chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka: Correlation of pathology with clinical stages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Wijetunge

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDU is endemic among the rural farming communities in several localities in and around the North Central region of Sri Lanka. This is an interstitial type renal disease and typically has an insidious onset and slow progression. This study was conducted to identify the pathological features in the different clinical stages of CKDU. This is a retrospective study of 251 renal biopsies identified to have a primary interstitial disease from regions endemic for CKDU. Pathological features were assessed and graded in relation to the clinical stage. The mean age of those affected by endemic CKDU was 37.3 ± 12.5 years and the male to female ratio was 3.3:1. The predominant feature of stage I disease was mild and moderate interstitial fibrosis; most did not have interstitial inflammation. The typical stage II disease had moderate interstitial fibrosis with or without mild interstitial inflammation. Stage III disease had moderate and severe interstitial fibrosis, moderate interstitial inflammation, tubular atrophy and some glomerulosclerosis. Stage IV disease typically had severe interstitial fibrosis and inflammation, tubular atrophy and glomerulosclerosis. The mean age of patients with stage I disease (27 ± 10.8 years was significantly lower than those of the other stages. About 79.2%, 55%, 49.1% and 50% in stage I, II, III and IV disease respectively were asymptomatic at the time of biopsy.

Prognostic features and markers for testicular cancer management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eddy S Leman

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Testicular neoplasm accounts for about 1% of all cancers in men. Over the last 40 years, the incidence of testicular cancer has increased in northern European male populations for unknown reasons. When diagnosed at early stage, testicular cancer is usually curable with a high survival rate. In the past three decades, successful multidisciplinary approaches for the management of testicular cancer have significantly increased patient survival rates. Utilization of tumor markers and accurate prognostic classification has also contributed to successful therapy. In this article, we highlight the most commonly used tumor markers and several potential "novel" markers for testicular cancer as part of the ongoing effort in biomarker research and discovery. In addition, this article also identifies several key prognostic features that have been demonstrated to play a role in predicting relapse. These features include tumor size, rete testis invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and tumor histology. Together with tumor markers, these prognostic factors should be taken into account for risk-adapted management of testicular cancer.

Rendezvous with connectivity preservation for multi-robot systems with an unknown leader

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Yi

2018-02-01

This paper studies the leader-following rendezvous problem with connectivity preservation for multi-agent systems composed of uncertain multi-robot systems subject to external disturbances and an unknown leader, both of which are generated by a so-called exosystem with parametric uncertainty. By combining internal model design, potential function technique and adaptive control, two distributed control strategies are proposed to maintain the connectivity of the communication network, to achieve the asymptotic tracking of all the followers to the output of the unknown leader system, as well as to reject unknown external disturbances. It is also worth to mention that the uncertain parameters in the multi-robot systems and exosystem are further allowed to belong to unknown and unbounded sets when applying the second fully distributed control law containing a dynamic gain inspired by high-gain adaptive control or self-tuning regulator.

Adaptive Incentive Controls for Stackelberg Games with Unknown Cost Functionals.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-01-01

APR EZT:: F I AN 73S e OsL:-: UNCLASSI?:-- Q4~.’~- .A.., 6, *~*i i~~*~~*.- U ADAPTIVE INCENTIVE CONTROLS FOR STACKELBERG GAMES WITH UNKNOWN COST...AD-A161 885 ADAPTIVE INCENTIVE CONTROLS FOR STACKELBERG GAMES WITH i/1 UNKNOWN COST FUNCTIONALSCU) ILLINOIS UNIV AT URBANA DECISION AND CONTROL LAB T...ORGANIZATION 6b. OFFICE SYMBOL 7.. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION CoriaeLcenef~pda~ Joint Services Electronics Program Laboratory, Univ. of Illinois N/A

M-MRAC Backstepping for Systems with Unknown Virtual Control Coefficients

Science.gov (United States)

Stepanyan, Vahram; Krishnakumar, Kalmanje

2015-01-01

The paper presents an over-parametrization free certainty equivalence state feedback backstepping adaptive control design method for systems of any relative degree with unmatched uncertainties and unknown virtual control coefficients. It uses a fast prediction model to estimate the unknown parameters, which is independent of the control design. It is shown that the system's input and output tracking errors can be systematically decreased by the proper choice of the design parameters. The benefits of the approach are demonstrated in numerical simulations.

Speeding up transmissions of unknown quantum information along Ising-type quantum channels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo W J; Wei L F

2017-01-01

Quantum teleportation with entanglement channels and a series of two-qubit SWAP gates between the nearest-neighbor qubits are usually utilized to achieve the transfers of unknown quantum state from the sender to the distant receiver. In this paper, by simplifying the usual SWAP gates we propose an approach to speed up the transmissions of unknown quantum information, specifically including the single-qubit unknown state and two-qubit unknown entangled ones, by a series of entangling and disentangling operations between the remote qubits with distant interactions. The generic proposal is demonstrated specifically with experimentally-existing Ising-type quantum channels without transverse interaction; liquid NMR-molecules driven by global radio frequency electromagnetic pulses and capacitively-coupled Josephson circuits driven by local microwave pulses. The proposal should be particularly useful to set up the connections between the distant qubits in a chip of quantum computing. (paper)

Robust Control for the Segway with Unknown Control Coefficient and Model Uncertainties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byung Woo Kim

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The Segway, which is a popular vehicle nowadays, is an uncertain nonlinear system and has an unknown time-varying control coefficient. Thus, we should consider the unknown time-varying control coefficient and model uncertainties to design the controller. Motivated by this observation, we propose a robust control for the Segway with unknown control coefficient and model uncertainties. To deal with the time-varying unknown control coefficient, we employ the Nussbaum gain technique. We introduce an auxiliary variable to solve the underactuated problem. Due to the prescribed performance control technique, the proposed controller does not require the adaptive technique, neural network, and fuzzy logic to compensate the uncertainties. Therefore, it can be simple. From the Lyapunov stability theory, we prove that all signals in the closed-loop system are bounded. Finally, we provide the simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Learning Motion Features for Example-Based Finger Motion Estimation for Virtual Characters

Science.gov (United States)

Mousas, Christos; Anagnostopoulos, Christos-Nikolaos

2017-09-01

This paper presents a methodology for estimating the motion of a character's fingers based on the use of motion features provided by a virtual character's hand. In the presented methodology, firstly, the motion data is segmented into discrete phases. Then, a number of motion features are computed for each motion segment of a character's hand. The motion features are pre-processed using restricted Boltzmann machines, and by using the different variations of semantically similar finger gestures in a support vector machine learning mechanism, the optimal weights for each feature assigned to a metric are computed. The advantages of the presented methodology in comparison to previous solutions are the following: First, we automate the computation of optimal weights that are assigned to each motion feature counted in our metric. Second, the presented methodology achieves an increase (about 17%) in correctly estimated finger gestures in comparison to a previous method.

Identification of fractional-order systems with unknown initial values and structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Wei, E-mail: duwei0203@gmail.com [Key Laboratory of Advanced Control and Optimization for Chemical Processes, Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China); Miao, Qingying, E-mail: qymiao@sjtu.edu.cn [School of Continuing Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030 (China); Tong, Le, E-mail: tongle0328@gmail.com [Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (China); Tang, Yang [Key Laboratory of Advanced Control and Optimization for Chemical Processes, Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China)

2017-06-21

In this paper, the identification problem of fractional-order chaotic systems is proposed and investigated via an evolutionary optimization approach. Different with other studies to date, this research focuses on the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems with not only unknown orders and parameters, but also unknown initial values and structure. A group of fractional-order chaotic systems, i.e., Lorenz, Lü, Chen, Rössler, Arneodo and Volta chaotic systems, are set as the system candidate pool. The identification problem of fractional-order chaotic systems in this research belongs to mixed integer nonlinear optimization in essence. A powerful evolutionary algorithm called composite differential evolution (CoDE) is introduced for the identification problem presented in this paper. Extensive experiments are carried out to show that the fractional-order chaotic systems with unknown initial values and structure can be successfully identified by means of CoDE. - Highlights: • Unknown initial values and structure are introduced in the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems; • Only a series of output is utilized in the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems; • CoDE is used for the identification problem and the results are satisfactory when compared with other DE variants.

Multidimensional procurement auctions with unknown weights

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Thomas

This paper studies the consequences of holding a procurement auction when the principal chooses not to show its preferences. My paper extends the procurement auction model of Che (1993) to a situation where both the principal and the agents have private information. Thus, unknown parameters of bo...... gives rise to an analysis of a principal that can not fully commit to the outcome induced by the scoring rule. Therefore, my result apply to contract theory and it’s problems with imperfect commitment....

Feature singletons attract spatial attention independently of feature priming.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-08-01

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

Proton MR spectroscopic features of liver cirrhosis : comparing with normal liver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Soon Gu; Choi, Won; Kim, Young Soo; Kim, Mi Young; Jee, Keum Nahn; Lee, Kyung Hee; Suh, Chang Hae

2000-01-01

detected at 3.9-4.1 ppm with unknown nature. Mean and standard deviation of area ratio of the unknown peak to lipid peak in proton MR spectra of liver cirrhosis was 0.1504 ± 0.0335. Proton MR spectra of liver cirrhosis revealed decreased intensity of lipid with statistical significance compared with that of normal liver, and peak at 3.9-4 ppm with unknown nature. In conclusion, liver cirrhosis can be diagnosed non-invasively by the analysis of observed proton MR spectroscopic features. (author)

Person Re-Identification by Camera Correlation Aware Feature Augmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ying-Cong; Zhu, Xiatian; Zheng, Wei-Shi; Lai, Jian-Huang

2018-02-01

The challenge of person re-identification (re-id) is to match individual images of the same person captured by different non-overlapping camera views against significant and unknown cross-view feature distortion. While a large number of distance metric/subspace learning models have been developed for re-id, the cross-view transformations they learned are view-generic and thus potentially less effective in quantifying the feature distortion inherent to each camera view. Learning view-specific feature transformations for re-id (i.e., view-specific re-id), an under-studied approach, becomes an alternative resort for this problem. In this work, we formulate a novel view-specific person re-identification framework from the feature augmentation point of view, called Camera coR relation Aware Feature augmenTation (CRAFT). Specifically, CRAFT performs cross-view adaptation by automatically measuring camera correlation from cross-view visual data distribution and adaptively conducting feature augmentation to transform the original features into a new adaptive space. Through our augmentation framework, view-generic learning algorithms can be readily generalized to learn and optimize view-specific sub-models whilst simultaneously modelling view-generic discrimination information. Therefore, our framework not only inherits the strength of view-generic model learning but also provides an effective way to take into account view specific characteristics. Our CRAFT framework can be extended to jointly learn view-specific feature transformations for person re-id across a large network with more than two cameras, a largely under-investigated but realistic re-id setting. Additionally, we present a domain-generic deep person appearance representation which is designed particularly to be towards view invariant for facilitating cross-view adaptation by CRAFT. We conducted extensively comparative experiments to validate the superiority and advantages of our proposed framework over state

Linear Regression on Sparse Features for Single-Channel Speech Separation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Mikkel N.; Olsson, Rasmus Kongsgaard

2007-01-01

In this work we address the problem of separating multiple speakers from a single microphone recording. We formulate a linear regression model for estimating each speaker based on features derived from the mixture. The employed feature representation is a sparse, non-negative encoding of the speech...... mixture in terms of pre-learned speaker-dependent dictionaries. Previous work has shown that this feature representation by itself provides some degree of separation. We show that the performance is significantly improved when regression analysis is performed on the sparse, non-negative features, both...

Clinical and prognostic features among children with acute encephalitis syndrome in Nepal; a retrospective study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Impoinvil Daniel E

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES is commonly seen among hospitalized Nepali children. Japanese Encephalitis (JE accounts for approximately one-quarter of cases. Although poor prognostic features for JE have been identified, and guide management, relatively little is reported on the remaining three-quarters of AES cases. Methods Children with AES (n = 225 were identified through admission records from two hospitals in Kathmandu between 2006 and 2008. Patients without available lumbar puncture results (n = 40 or with bacterial or plasmodium infection (n = 40 were analysed separately. The remaining AES patients with suspected viral aetiology were classified, based on positive IgM antibody in serum or cerebral spinal fluid, as JE (n = 42 or AES of unknown viral aetiology (n = 103; this latter group was sub-classified into Non-JE (n = 44 or JE status unknown (n = 59. Bad outcome was defined as death or neurological sequelae at discharge. Results AES patients of suspected viral aetiology more frequently had a bad outcome than those with bacterial or plasmodium infection (31% versus 13%; P = 0.039. JE patients more frequently had a bad outcome than those with AES of unknown viral aetiology (48% versus 24%; P = 0.01. Bad outcome was independently associated in both JE and suspected viral aetiology groups with a longer duration of fever pre-admission (P = 0.007; P = 0.002 respectively and greater impairment of consciousness (P = 0.02; P Conclusions Nepali children with AES of suspected viral aetiology or with JE frequently suffered a bad outcome. Despite no specific treatment, patients who experienced a shorter duration of fever before hospital admission more frequently recovered completely. Prompt referral may allow AES patients to receive potentially life-saving supportive management. Previous studies have indicated supportive management, such as fluid provision, is associated with better outcome in JE. The lower weight and higher

Light field morphing using 2D features.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2005-01-01

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

A review of feature detection and match algorithms for localization and mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shimiao

2017-09-01

Localization and mapping is an essential ability of a robot to keep track of its own location in an unknown environment. Among existing methods for this purpose, vision-based methods are more effective solutions for being accurate, inexpensive and versatile. Vision-based methods can generally be categorized as feature-based approaches and appearance-based approaches. The feature-based approaches prove higher performance in textured scenarios. However, their performance depend highly on the applied feature-detection algorithms. In this paper, we surveyed algorithms for feature detection, which is an essential step in achieving vision-based localization and mapping. In this pater, we present mathematical models of the algorithms one after another. To compare the performances of the algorithms, we conducted a series of experiments on their accuracy, speed, scale invariance and rotation invariance. The results of the experiments showed that ORB is the fastest algorithm in detecting and matching features, the speed of which is more than 10 times that of SURF and approximately 40 times that of SIFT. And SIFT, although with no advantage in terms of speed, shows the most correct matching pairs and proves its accuracy.

Clostridium difficile: A healthcare-associated infection of unknown ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Clostridium difficile: A healthcare-associated infection of unknown significance in adults in sub-Saharan Africa. ... Abstract. Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) causes a high burden of disease in high-resource healthcare systems, with significant morbidity, mortality, and financial implications. CDI is a ...

Severe scratcher-reaction: an unknown health hazard?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carsten Sauer Mikkelsen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Tattoos are well known to cause skin problems and the number of reported adverse reactions after tattooing has increased. Illegally imported tattoo ink is unrestrained and can contain unknown ingredients and contamination thereby posing a serious health hazard. We present a case illustrating the risk of pronounced phototoxic allergic reaction and other severe complications after using home kit tattoo ink.

Feature-aware natural texture synthesis

KAUST Repository

Wu, Fuzhang

2014-12-04

This article presents a framework for natural texture synthesis and processing. This framework is motivated by the observation that given examples captured in natural scene, texture synthesis addresses a critical problem, namely, that synthesis quality can be affected adversely if the texture elements in an example display spatially varied patterns, such as perspective distortion, the composition of different sub-textures, and variations in global color pattern as a result of complex illumination. This issue is common in natural textures and is a fundamental challenge for previously developed methods. Thus, we address it from a feature point of view and propose a feature-aware approach to synthesize natural textures. The synthesis process is guided by a feature map that represents the visual characteristics of the input texture. Moreover, we present a novel adaptive initialization algorithm that can effectively avoid the repeat and verbatim copying artifacts. Our approach improves texture synthesis in many images that cannot be handled effectively with traditional technologies.

The airway microbiome in patients with severe asthma: Associations with disease features and severity.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yvonne J; Nariya, Snehal; Harris, Jeffrey M; Lynch, Susan V; Choy, David F; Arron, Joseph R; Boushey, Homer

2015-10-01

Asthma is heterogeneous, and airway dysbiosis is associated with clinical features in patients with mild-to-moderate asthma. Whether similar relationships exist among patients with severe asthma is unknown. We sought to evaluate relationships between the bronchial microbiome and features of severe asthma. Bronchial brushings from 40 participants in the Bronchoscopic Exploratory Research Study of Biomarkers in Corticosteroid-refractory Asthma (BOBCAT) study were evaluated by using 16S ribosomal RNA-based methods. Relationships to clinical and inflammatory features were analyzed among microbiome-profiled subjects. Secondarily, bacterial compositional profiles were compared between patients with severe asthma and previously studied healthy control subjects (n = 7) and patients with mild-to-moderate asthma (n = 41). In patients with severe asthma, bronchial bacterial composition was associated with several disease-related features, including body mass index (P PERMANOVA), changes in Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) scores (P < .01), sputum total leukocyte values (P = .06), and bronchial biopsy eosinophil values (per square millimeter, P = .07). Bacterial communities associated with worsening ACQ scores and sputum total leukocyte values (predominantly Proteobacteria) differed markedly from those associated with body mass index (Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes). In contrast, improving/stable ACQ scores and bronchial epithelial gene expression of FK506 binding protein (FKBP5), an indicator of steroid responsiveness, correlated with Actinobacteria. Mostly negative correlations were observed between biopsy eosinophil values and Proteobacteria. No taxa were associated with a TH2-related epithelial gene expression signature, but expression of TH17-related genes was associated with Proteobacteria. Patients with severe asthma compared with healthy control subjects or patients with mild-to-moderate asthma were significantly enriched in Actinobacteria, although the largest differences

Integrative and distinctive coding of visual and conceptual object features in the ventral visual stream.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Chris B; Douglas, Danielle; Newsome, Rachel N; Man, Louisa Ly; Barense, Morgan D

2018-02-02

A significant body of research in cognitive neuroscience is aimed at understanding how object concepts are represented in the human brain. However, it remains unknown whether and where the visual and abstract conceptual features that define an object concept are integrated. We addressed this issue by comparing the neural pattern similarities among object-evoked fMRI responses with behavior-based models that independently captured the visual and conceptual similarities among these stimuli. Our results revealed evidence for distinctive coding of visual features in lateral occipital cortex, and conceptual features in the temporal pole and parahippocampal cortex. By contrast, we found evidence for integrative coding of visual and conceptual object features in perirhinal cortex. The neuroanatomical specificity of this effect was highlighted by results from a searchlight analysis. Taken together, our findings suggest that perirhinal cortex uniquely supports the representation of fully specified object concepts through the integration of their visual and conceptual features. © 2018, Martin et al.

Integrative and distinctive coding of visual and conceptual object features in the ventral visual stream

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Danielle; Newsome, Rachel N; Man, Louisa LY

2018-01-01

A significant body of research in cognitive neuroscience is aimed at understanding how object concepts are represented in the human brain. However, it remains unknown whether and where the visual and abstract conceptual features that define an object concept are integrated. We addressed this issue by comparing the neural pattern similarities among object-evoked fMRI responses with behavior-based models that independently captured the visual and conceptual similarities among these stimuli. Our results revealed evidence for distinctive coding of visual features in lateral occipital cortex, and conceptual features in the temporal pole and parahippocampal cortex. By contrast, we found evidence for integrative coding of visual and conceptual object features in perirhinal cortex. The neuroanatomical specificity of this effect was highlighted by results from a searchlight analysis. Taken together, our findings suggest that perirhinal cortex uniquely supports the representation of fully specified object concepts through the integration of their visual and conceptual features. PMID:29393853

Row Reduced Echelon Form for Solving Fully Fuzzy System with Unknown Coefficients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghassan Malkawi

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This study proposes a new method for finding a feasible fuzzy solution in positive Fully Fuzzy Linear System (FFLS, where the coefficients are unknown. The fully fuzzy system is transferred to linear system in order to obtain the solution using row reduced echelon form, thereafter; the crisp solution is restricted in obtaining the positive fuzzy solution. The fuzzy solution of FFLS is included crisp intervals, to assign alternative values of unknown entries of fuzzy numbers. To illustrate the proposed method, numerical examples are solved, where the entries of coefficients are unknown in right or left hand side, to demonstrate the contributions in this study.

Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajapakse, Senaka; Shivanthan, Mitrakrishnan Chrishan; Selvarajah, Mathu

2016-07-01

In the last two decades, chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) has emerged as a significant contributor to the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in rural Sri Lanka. It is characterized by the absence of identified causes for CKD. The prevalence of CKDu is 15.1-22.9% in some Sri Lankan districts, and previous research has found an association with farming occupations. A systematic literature review in Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and Lilacs databases identified 46 eligible peer-reviewed articles and one conference abstract. Geographical mapping indicates a relationship between CKDu and agricultural irrigation water sources. Health mapping studies, human biological studies, and environment-based studies have explored possible causative agents. Most studies focused on likely causative agents related to agricultural practices, geographical distribution based on the prevalence and incidence of CKDu, and contaminants identified in drinking water. Nonetheless, the link between agrochemicals or heavy metals and CKDu remains to be established. No definitive cause for CKDu has been identified. Evidence to date suggests that the disease is related to one or more environmental agents, however pinpointing a definite cause for CKDu is challenging. It is plausible that CKDu is multifactorial. No specific guidelines or recommendations exist for treatment of CKDu, and standard management protocols for CKD apply. Changes in agricultural practices, provision of safe drinking water, and occupational safety precautions are recommended by the World Health Organization.

Vision-based autonomous grasping of unknown piled objects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, R.K.

1994-01-01

Computer vision techniques have been used to develop a vision-based grasping capability for autonomously picking and placing unknown piled objects. This work is currently being applied to the problem of hazardous waste sorting in support of the Department of Energy's Mixed Waste Operations Program

48 CFR 52.222-49 - Service Contract Act-Place of Performance Unknown.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Service Contract Act-Place... Provisions and Clauses 52.222-49 Service Contract Act—Place of Performance Unknown. As prescribed in 22.1006(f), insert the following clause: Service Contract Act—Place of Performance Unknown (MAY 1989) (a...

Heralded noiseless amplification for single-photon entangled state with polarization feature

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dan-Dan; Jin, Yu-Yu; Qin, Sheng-Xian; Zu, Hao; Zhou, Lan; Zhong, Wei; Sheng, Yu-Bo

2018-03-01

Heralded noiseless amplification is a promising method to overcome the transmission photon loss in practical noisy quantum channel and can effectively lengthen the quantum communication distance. Single-photon entanglement is an important resource in current quantum communications. Here, we construct two single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocols for the single-photon two-mode entangled state and single-photon three-mode W state, respectively, where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. After the amplification, the fidelity of the single-photon entangled state can be increased, while the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit can be well remained. Both the two protocols only require the linear optical elements, so that they can be realized under current experimental condition. Our protocols may be useful in current and future quantum information processing.

Audiovisual laughter detection based on temporal features

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petridis, Stavros; Nijholt, Antinus; Nijholt, A.; Pantic, M.; Pantic, Maja; Poel, Mannes; Poel, M.; Hondorp, G.H.W.

2008-01-01

Previous research on automatic laughter detection has mainly been focused on audio-based detection. In this study we present an audiovisual approach to distinguishing laughter from speech based on temporal features and we show that the integration of audio and visual information leads to improved

Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Treatment (PDQ®)—Patient Version

Science.gov (United States)

Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP), treatment can include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy. Get detailed information about the diagnosis and treatment of CUP in this expert-reviewed summary.

Melanoma of unknown origin: a case series.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Kelly, J

2010-12-01

The natural history of metastatic melanoma involving lymph nodes, in the absence of a known primary site (cutaneous, ocular or mucosal) has, to date, been poorly defined; and the optimal management of this rare subtype of disease is therefore unclear. Melanomas of unknown primary site (MUP) are estimated to comprise between 3.7 and 6% of all melanomas (Anbari et al. in Cancer 79:1861-1821, 1997).

Feature Optimization for Long-Range Visual Homing in Changing Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qidan Zhu

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces a feature optimization method for robot long-range feature-based visual homing in changing environments. To cope with the changing environmental appearance, the optimization procedure is introduced to distinguish the most relevant features for feature-based visual homing, including the spatial distribution, selection and updating. In the previous research on feature-based visual homing, less effort has been spent on the way to improve the feature distribution to get uniformly distributed features, which are closely related to homing performance. This paper presents a modified feature extraction algorithm to decrease the influence of anisotropic feature distribution. In addition, the feature selection and updating mechanisms, which have hardly drawn any attention in the domain of feature-based visual homing, are crucial in improving homing accuracy and in maintaining the representation of changing environments. To verify the feasibility of the proposal, several comprehensive evaluations are conducted. The results indicate that the feature optimization method can find optimal feature sets for feature-based visual homing, and adapt the appearance representation to the changing environments as well.

Atmospheric turbulence profiling with unknown power spectral density

Science.gov (United States)

Helin, Tapio; Kindermann, Stefan; Lehtonen, Jonatan; Ramlau, Ronny

2018-04-01

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology in modern ground-based optical telescopes to compensate for the wavefront distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence. One method that allows to retrieve information about the atmosphere from telescope data is so-called SLODAR, where the atmospheric turbulence profile is estimated based on correlation data of Shack-Hartmann wavefront measurements. This approach relies on a layered Kolmogorov turbulence model. In this article, we propose a novel extension of the SLODAR concept by including a general non-Kolmogorov turbulence layer close to the ground with an unknown power spectral density. We prove that the joint estimation problem of the turbulence profile above ground simultaneously with the unknown power spectral density at the ground is ill-posed and propose three numerical reconstruction methods. We demonstrate by numerical simulations that our methods lead to substantial improvements in the turbulence profile reconstruction compared to the standard SLODAR-type approach. Also, our methods can accurately locate local perturbations in non-Kolmogorov power spectral densities.

Detection of Fraudulent Emails by Employing Advanced Feature Abundance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nizamani, Sarwat; Memon, Nasrullah; Glasdam, Mathies

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present a fraudulent email detection model using advanced feature choice. We extracted various kinds of features and compared the performance of each category of features with the others in terms of the fraudulent email detection rate. The different types of features...... are incorporated step by step. The detection of fraudulent email has been considered as a classification problem and it is evaluated using various state-of-the art algorithms and on CCM [1] which is authors' previous cluster based classification model. The experiments have been performed on diverse feature sets...... and the different classification methods. The comparison of the results is also presented and the evaluations shows that for the fraudulent email detection tasks, the feature set is more important regardless of classification method. The results of the study suggest that the task of fraudulent emails detection...

Attention in the processing of complex visual displays: detecting features and their combinations.

Science.gov (United States)

Farell, B

1984-02-01

The distinction between operations in visual processing that are parallel and preattentive and those that are serial and attentional receives both theoretical and empirical support. According to Treisman's feature-integration theory, independent features are available preattentively, but attention is required to veridically combine features into objects. Certain evidence supporting this theory is consistent with a different interpretation, which was tested in four experiments. The first experiment compared the detection of features and feature combinations while eliminating a factor that confounded earlier comparisons. The resulting priority of access to combinatorial information suggests that features and nonlocal combinations of features are not connected solely by a bottom-up hierarchical convergence. Causes of the disparity between the results of Experiment 1 and the results of previous research were investigated in three subsequent experiments. The results showed that of the two confounded factors, it was the difference in the mapping of alternatives onto responses, not the differing attentional demands of features and objects, that underlaid the results of the previous research. The present results are thus counterexamples to the feature-integration theory. Aspects of this theory are shown to be subsumed by more general principles, which are discussed in terms of attentional processes in the detection of features, objects, and stimulus alternatives.

Lipomatosis of the sciatic nerve: typical and atypical MRI features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, Bernadette Zhi Ying; Amrami, Kimberly K.; Wenger, Doris E.; Dyck, P. James B.; Scheithauer, Bernd W.; Spinner, Robert J.

2006-01-01

Lipomatosis of nerve, also known as fibrolipomatous hamartoma, is a rare condition of nerve, usually affecting the median nerve. The MRI appearance is characteristic. We describe two cases of lipomatosis of nerve involving the sciatic nerve, an extremely unusual location for this lesion, in patients with sciatic neuropathy. These cases share the typical features previously described in the literature for other nerves, but also contain atypical features not previously highlighted, relating to the variability in distribution and extent of the fatty deposition. Recognition of the MRI appearance of this entity is important in order to avoid unnecessary attempts at surgical resection of this lesion. (orig.)

Understanding Legacy Features with Featureous

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2011-01-01

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

Pathological features of glomerulonephritis in Jakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sutisna Himawan

2002-03-01

Full Text Available All cases of renal biopsies received during a 10-year period from 1990-1999 were collected and analyzed. There were a totat of 1344 cases, comprising 390 pediatric cases, 9 I 8 adult cases and 36 cases of unknown age. Immunofluorescence microscopy was performed on 1089 cases (81.0%. The purpose of this study is to have an overview of the pattem and spectrum of glomerular diseases in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta and surroundings, with special emphasis on the cases with nephrotic syndrome, lupus nephritis and IgA nephropathy, and to compare the findings with previous reports from Indonesia and afew other countries. There were 250 cases of childhood nephrotic syndrome and 479 adult cases. The most frequent histopathological appearance in both groups was minimal change disease, i.e. 58.2% and 44.7% respectively. Males were more often affected than females with a ratio of 2.0:1 for children and 1.4:1 for adults. Lupus nephritis comprised 124 cases, among which three cases were not representative. The male to female ratio was 1:7.9. Most cases were in the fourth decade, i.e. 47 cases (38.5%, and the most frequent histopathological appearance was WHO class IV with 71 cases (58.7%. There were 97 cases of IgA nephropathy with an age range between 3 to 58 years. The peak incidence was in the fourth decade with 32 cases (33%. The male to female ratio was L7: I. The most frequent histopathological appearances were diffuse sclerosing lesion 34 cases (35% and mesangial proliftrative lesion 33 cases (34%. (Med J Indones 2002; 11: 24-9Keywords: renal biopsy, pathological features, glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy

Detection of fraudulent emails by employing advanced feature abundance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarwat Nizamani

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a fraudulent email detection model using advanced feature choice. We extracted various kinds of features and compared the performance of each category of features with the others in terms of the fraudulent email detection rate. The different types of features are incorporated step by step. The detection of fraudulent email has been considered as a classification problem and it is evaluated using various state-of-the art algorithms and on CCM (Nizamani et al., 2011 [1] which is authors’ previous cluster based classification model. The experiments have been performed on diverse feature sets and the different classification methods. The comparison of the results is also presented and the evaluation show that for the fraudulent email detection tasks, the feature set is more important regardless of classification method. The results of the study suggest that the task of fraudulent emails detection requires the better choice of feature set; while the choice of classification method is of less importance.

Navigation and Comprehension of Digital Expository Texts: Hypertext Structure, Previous Domain Knowledge, and Working Memory Capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Burin, Debora I.; Barreyro, Juan P.; Saux, Gastón; Irrazábal, Natalia C.

2015-01-01

Introduction: In contemporary information societies, reading digital text has become pervasive. One of the most distinctive features of digital texts is their internal connections via hyperlinks, resulting in non-linear hypertexts. Hypertext structure and previous knowledge affect navigation and comprehension of digital expository texts. From the…

The Speed of Feature-Based Attention: Attentional Advantage Is Slow, but Selection Is Fast

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Liqiang

2010-01-01

When paying attention to a feature (e.g., red), no attentional advantage is gained in perceiving items with this feature in very brief displays. Therefore, feature-based attention seems to be slow. In previous feature-based attention studies, attention has often been measured as the difference in performance in a secondary task. In our recent work…

Bohring-Opitz (Oberklaid-Danks) syndrome: clinical study, review of the literature, and discussion of possible pathogenesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hastings, Rob; Cobben, Jan-Maarten; Gillessen-Kaesbach, Gabriele

2011-01-01

Bohring-Opitz syndrome (BOS) is a rare congenital disorder of unknown etiology diagnosed on the basis of distinctive clinical features. We suggest diagnostic criteria for this condition, describe ten previously unreported patients, and update the natural history of four previously reported patients...

Design of a DNA chip for detection of unknown genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Science.gov (United States)

Nesvold, Håvard; Kristoffersen, Anja Bråthen; Holst-Jensen, Arne; Berdal, Knut G

2005-05-01

Unknown genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have not undergone a risk evaluation, and hence might pose a danger to health and environment. There are, today, no methods for detecting unknown GMOs. In this paper we propose a novel method intended as a first step in an approach for detecting unknown genetically modified (GM) material in a single plant. A model is designed where biological and combinatorial reduction rules are applied to a set of DNA chip probes containing all possible sequences of uniform length n, creating probes capable of detecting unknown GMOs. The model is theoretically tested for Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia, and the probabilities for detecting inserts and receiving false positives are assessed for various parameters for this organism. From a theoretical standpoint, the model looks very promising but should be tested further in the laboratory. The model and algorithms will be available upon request to the corresponding author.

The Effect of Known-and-Unknown Word Combinations on Intentional Vocabulary Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kasahara, Kiwamu

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine whether learning a known-and-unknown word combination is superior in terms of retention and retrieval of meaning to learning a single unknown word. The term "combination" in this study means a two-word collocation of a familiar word and a word that is new to the participants. Following the results of…

High Precision Fast Projective Synchronization for Chaotic Systems with Unknown Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Nian, Fuzhong; Wang, Xingyuan; Lin, Da; Niu, Yujun

2013-08-01

A high precision fast projective synchronization method for chaotic systems with unknown parameters was proposed by introducing optimal matrix. Numerical simulations indicate that the precision be improved about three orders compared with other common methods under the same condition of software and hardware. Moreover, when average error is less than 10-3, the synchronization speed is 6500 times than common methods, the iteration needs only 4 times. The unknown parameters also were identified rapidly. The theoretical analysis and proof also were given.

Detection of unknown primary neuroendocrine tumours (CUP-NET) using {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC receptor PET/CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prasad, Vikas; Baum, Richard P. [Zentralklinik Bad Berka, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Centre for PET/CT, Bad Berka (Germany); Ambrosini, Valentina; Fanti, Stefano [University of Bologna, Nuclear Medicine Unit, Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna (Italy); Hommann, Merten [Zentralklinik Bad Berka, Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Bad Berka (Germany); Hoersch, Dieter [Zentralklinik Bad Berka, Department of Internal Medicine/Gastroenterology, Oncology and Endocrinology, Bad Berka (Germany)

2010-01-15

This bi-centric study aimed to determine the role of receptor PET/CT using {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC in the detection of undiagnosed primary sites of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and to understand the molecular behaviour of the primarily undiagnosed tumours. Overall 59 patients (33 men and 26 women, age: 65 {+-} 9 years) with documented NET and unknown primary were enrolled. PET/CT was performed after injection of approximately 100 MBq (46-260 MBq) of {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC. The maximum standardised uptake values (SUV{sub max}) were calculated and compared with SUV{sub max} in known pancreatic NET (pNET) and ileum/jejunum/duodenum (SI-NET). The results of PET/CT were also correlated with CT alone. In 35 of 59 patients (59%), {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC PET/CT localised the site of the primary: ileum/jejunum (14), pancreas (16), rectum/colon (2), lungs (2) and paraganglioma (1). CT alone (on retrospective analyses) confirmed the findings in 12 of 59 patients (20%). The mean SUV{sub max} of identified previously unknown pNET and SI-NET were 18.6 {+-} 9.8 (range: 7.8-34.8) and 9.1 {+-} 6.0 (range: 4.2-27.8), respectively. SUV{sub max} in patients with previously known pNET and SI-NET were 26.1 {+-} 14.5 (range: 8.7-42.4) and 11.3 {+-} 3.7 (range: 5.6-17.9). The SUV{sub max} of the unknown pNET and SI-NET were significantly lower (p < 0.05) as compared to the ones with known primary tumour sites; 19% of the patients had high-grade and 81% low-grade NET. Based on {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC receptor PET/CT, 6 of 59 patients were operated and the primary was removed (4 pancreatic, 1 ileal and 1 rectal tumour) resulting in a management change in approximately 10% of the patients. In the remaining 29 patients, because of the far advanced stage of the disease (due to distant metastases), the primary tumours were not operated. Additional histopathological sampling was available from one patient with bronchial carcinoid (through bronchoscopy). Our data indicate that {sup 68}Ga-DOTA-NOC PET/CT is

Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Tse, Peter U

2015-04-15

Useful information in the visual environment is often contained in specific conjunctions of visual features (e.g., color and shape). The ability to quickly and accurately process such conjunctions can be learned. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for such learning remain largely unknown. It has been suggested that some forms of visual learning might involve the dopaminergic neuromodulatory system (Roelfsema et al., 2010; Seitz and Watanabe, 2005), but this hypothesis has not yet been directly tested. Here we test the hypothesis that learning visual feature conjunctions involves the dopaminergic system, using functional neuroimaging, genetic assays, and behavioral testing techniques. We use a correlative approach to evaluate potential associations between individual differences in visual feature conjunction learning rate and individual differences in dopaminergic function as indexed by neuroimaging and genetic markers. We find a significant correlation between activity in the caudate nucleus (a component of the dopaminergic system connected to visual areas of the brain) and visual feature conjunction learning rate. Specifically, individuals who showed a larger difference in activity between positive and negative feedback on an unrelated cognitive task, indicative of a more reactive dopaminergic system, learned visual feature conjunctions more quickly than those who showed a smaller activity difference. This finding supports the hypothesis that the dopaminergic system is involved in visual learning, and suggests that visual feature conjunction learning could be closely related to associative learning. However, no significant, reliable correlations were found between feature conjunction learning and genotype or dopaminergic activity in any other regions of interest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discriminative semi-supervised feature selection via manifold regularization.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Zenglin; King, Irwin; Lyu, Michael Rung-Tsong; Jin, Rong

2010-07-01

Feature selection has attracted a huge amount of interest in both research and application communities of data mining. We consider the problem of semi-supervised feature selection, where we are given a small amount of labeled examples and a large amount of unlabeled examples. Since a small number of labeled samples are usually insufficient for identifying the relevant features, the critical problem arising from semi-supervised feature selection is how to take advantage of the information underneath the unlabeled data. To address this problem, we propose a novel discriminative semi-supervised feature selection method based on the idea of manifold regularization. The proposed approach selects features through maximizing the classification margin between different classes and simultaneously exploiting the geometry of the probability distribution that generates both labeled and unlabeled data. In comparison with previous semi-supervised feature selection algorithms, our proposed semi-supervised feature selection method is an embedded feature selection method and is able to find more discriminative features. We formulate the proposed feature selection method into a convex-concave optimization problem, where the saddle point corresponds to the optimal solution. To find the optimal solution, the level method, a fairly recent optimization method, is employed. We also present a theoretic proof of the convergence rate for the application of the level method to our problem. Empirical evaluation on several benchmark data sets demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed semi-supervised feature selection method.

Unknown quantum states: The quantum de Finetti representation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caves, Carlton M.; Fuchs, Christopher A.; Schack, Ruediger

2002-01-01

We present an elementary proof of the quantum de Finetti representation theorem, a quantum analog of de Finetti's classical theorem on exchangeable probability assignments. This contrasts with the original proof of Hudson and Moody [Z. Wahrschein. verw. Geb. 33, 343 (1976)], which relies on advanced mathematics and does not share the same potential for generalization. The classical de Finetti theorem provides an operational definition of the concept of an unknown probability in Bayesian probability theory, where probabilities are taken to be degrees of belief instead of objective states of nature. The quantum de Finetti theorem, in a closely analogous fashion, deals with exchangeable density-operator assignments and provides an operational definition of the concept of an ''unknown quantum state'' in quantum-state tomography. This result is especially important for information-based interpretations of quantum mechanics, where quantum states, like probabilities, are taken to be states of knowledge rather than states of nature. We further demonstrate that the theorem fails for real Hilbert spaces and discuss the significance of this point

Intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis in patients with symptomatic epilepsy and epilepsy of unknown etiology ('cryptogenic').

Science.gov (United States)

Fauser, S; Soellner, C; Bien, C G; Tumani, H

2017-09-01

To compare the frequency of intrathecal immunoglobulin (Ig) synthesis in patients with symptomatic epilepsy and epilepsy of unknown etiology ('cryptogenic'). Patients with epileptic (n = 301) and non-epileptic (n = 10) seizures were retrospectively screened for autochthonous intrathecal Ig synthesis and oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in the cerebrospinal fluid. Intrathecal IgG/OCBs were detected in 8% of patients with epilepsies of unknown etiology, 5% of patients with first seizures of unknown cause and 0-4% of patients with epilepsy due to brain tumors, cerebrovascular disease or other etiologies. Intrathecal IgG/OCBs were not seen in patients with psychogenic seizures. Identical OCBs in serum and cerebrospinal fluid were more common in all patient groups (10-40% depending on underlying etiology). Intrathecal IgG synthesis/OCBs were observed slightly more frequently in patients with 'cryptogenic' epilepsy and with first seizures of unknown etiology than in other patient groups. However, this remained an infrequent finding and thus we could not confirm humoral immunity as a leading disease mechanism in patients with epilepsy in general or with unknown etiology in particular. © 2017 EAN.

RBF neural network based H∞ synchronization for unknown chaotic ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

, 172 ... the effect of disturbance to an H∞ norm constraint. It is shown that ... unknown chaotic systems; linear matrix inequality (LMI); learning law. 1. Introduction .... (9) is RBFNN H∞ synchronized if the synchronization error e(t) satisfies. ∫ ∞.

Monocular SLAM for autonomous robots with enhanced features initialization.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, Edmundo; Munguia, Rodrigo; Grau, Antoni

2014-04-02

This work presents a variant approach to the monocular SLAM problem focused in exploiting the advantages of a human-robot interaction (HRI) framework. Based upon the delayed inverse-depth feature initialization SLAM (DI-D SLAM), a known monocular technique, several but crucial modifications are introduced taking advantage of data from a secondary monocular sensor, assuming that this second camera is worn by a human. The human explores an unknown environment with the robot, and when their fields of view coincide, the cameras are considered a pseudo-calibrated stereo rig to produce estimations for depth through parallax. These depth estimations are used to solve a related problem with DI-D monocular SLAM, namely, the requirement of a metric scale initialization through known artificial landmarks. The same process is used to improve the performance of the technique when introducing new landmarks into the map. The convenience of the approach taken to the stereo estimation, based on SURF features matching, is discussed. Experimental validation is provided through results from real data with results showing the improvements in terms of more features correctly initialized, with reduced uncertainty, thus reducing scale and orientation drift. Additional discussion in terms of how a real-time implementation could take advantage of this approach is provided.

[Clinical and histopathological features of myositis associated with anti-mitochondrial antibodies].

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, Jun

2013-01-01

Anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are known to be characteristic markers of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The association of PBC with myositis has been reported mainly as case reports, and comprehensive studies of the clinical and histopathological features of patients with myositis and AMAs or PBC have not been conducted thus far. We retrospectively reviewed 212 patients with inflammatory myopathies in our laboratory and found 24 patients with AMA-positive myositis (11%) (seven patients with PBC and 17 patients without PBC). The analysis of clinical and histopathological features revealed that myositis associated with AMAs frequently include patients with a clinically chronic disease course, muscle atrophy, cardiopulmonary involvement and granulomatous inflammation, regardless of the presence or absence of PBC. We also reviewed and analyzed the clinical features of previously reported patients. The analysis of 75 patients, which have been described in previous case reports including the ones of meeting abstracts, also showed the similar results about clinical features of myositis associated with AMAs and supported our findings. Our study suggests that myositis associated with AMAs form a characteristic subgroup.

MO-DE-207A-02: A Feature-Preserving Image Reconstruction Method for Improved Pancreaticlesion Classification in Diagnostic CT Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, J; Tsui, B [Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (United States); Noo, F [University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: To develop a feature-preserving model based image reconstruction (MBIR) method that improves performance in pancreatic lesion classification at equal or reduced radiation dose. Methods: A set of pancreatic lesion models was created with both benign and premalignant lesion types. These two classes of lesions are distinguished by their fine internal structures; their delineation is therefore crucial to the task of pancreatic lesion classification. To reduce image noise while preserving the features of the lesions, we developed a MBIR method with curvature-based regularization. The novel regularization encourages formation of smooth surfaces that model both the exterior shape and the internal features of pancreatic lesions. Given that the curvature depends on the unknown image, image reconstruction or denoising becomes a non-convex optimization problem; to address this issue an iterative-reweighting scheme was used to calculate and update the curvature using the image from the previous iteration. Evaluation was carried out with insertion of the lesion models into the pancreas of a patient CT image. Results: Visual inspection was used to compare conventional TV regularization with our curvature-based regularization. Several penalty-strengths were considered for TV regularization, all of which resulted in erasing portions of the septation (thin partition) in a premalignant lesion. At matched noise variance (50% noise reduction in the patient stomach region), the connectivity of the septation was well preserved using the proposed curvature-based method. Conclusion: The curvature-based regularization is able to reduce image noise while simultaneously preserving the lesion features. This method could potentially improve task performance for pancreatic lesion classification at equal or reduced radiation dose. The result is of high significance for longitudinal surveillance studies of patients with pancreatic cysts, which may develop into pancreatic cancer. The

Onychomatricoma with misleading features.

Science.gov (United States)

Fayol, J; Baran, R; Perrin, C; Labrousse, F

2000-01-01

Onychomatricoma is a rare tumour of the nail matrix with peculiar clinical and histological features and electron microscopic findings. We report on 5 cases with appearances which were misleading. Three presented as longitudinal melanonychia, a previously unreported observation. One case had the appearance of a cutaneous horn. In 3 of the 5 cases the tumour was associated with an onychomycosis and this may thus have been a predisposing factor in the secondary fungal infestation. Onychomatricoma appears as a multi-faceted tumour which can be mimicked by longitudinal melanonychia and/or onychomycosis.

Content-Based Multimedia Retrieval in the Presence of Unknown User Preferences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beecks, Christian; Assent, Ira; Seidl, Thomas

2011-01-01

Content-based multimedia retrieval requires an appropriate similarity model which reflects user preferences. When these preferences are unknown or when the structure of the data collection is unclear, retrieving the most preferable objects the user has in mind is challenging, as the notion...... address the problem of content-based multimedia retrieval in the presence of unknown user preferences. Our idea consists in performing content-based retrieval by considering all possibilities in a family of similarity models simultaneously. To this end, we propose a novel content-based retrieval approach...

Exploration of the West Florida Shelf Blue Holes Investigation of Physical and Biological Characteristics and Archaeological Implications of Unique Karst Features

Science.gov (United States)

Culter, J. K.

2006-12-01

of the documentation of the features included; vertical video transects, still photography, collections of biota, placement of recording thermographs and conductivity meters, collection of bottom sediment and rocks. During the course of the investigation a previously unknown cave feature over 45 meters in height and 76 meters in bottom diameter was discovered and dubbed Megadome. The cave is connected to the Gulf by a circular shaft approximately 0.75 meters in diameter and 11 meters in length. Instrumentation placed at Megadome revealed lunar tidal period water exchange, possible freshwater outflow and water movement in response to hurricanes. The upper portion of the cave contains a fouling community of sponges worms, tunicates and other organisms. A sink hole off the mouth of Tampa Bay was shown to contain a saltwater spring, venting at 72 m (235 fsw). Research is continuing. This research has been supported by a grant from NOAA, Ocean Exploration Program and Mote Marine Laboratory.

Quadrilateral mesh fitting that preserves sharp features based on multi-normals for Laplacian energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusuke Imai

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Because the cost of performance testing using actual products is expensive, manufacturers use lower-cost computer-aided design simulations for this function. In this paper, we propose using hexahedral meshes, which are more accurate than tetrahedral meshes, for finite element analysis. We propose automatic hexahedral mesh generation with sharp features to precisely represent the corresponding features of a target shape. Our hexahedral mesh is generated using a voxel-based algorithm. In our previous works, we fit the surface of the voxels to the target surface using Laplacian energy minimization. We used normal vectors in the fitting to preserve sharp features. However, this method could not represent concave sharp features precisely. In this proposal, we improve our previous Laplacian energy minimization by adding a term that depends on multi-normal vectors instead of using normal vectors. Furthermore, we accentuate a convex/concave surface subset to represent concave sharp features.

Use of geolocators reveals previously unknown Chinese and Korean scaly-sided merganser wintering sites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Soloveyva, Diana; Afanasiev, Vsevolod; Fox, James W.

2012-01-01

areas in successive years, suggesting winter fidelity to catchments if not specific sites. A single female from the adjacent Avvakumovka catchment wintered on saltwater in Korea, at least 1300 km east of Chinese wintering birds. Most sea duck species (Tribe Mergini) form pairs away from breeding areas......, suggesting that this high level of winter dispersal amongst close-nesting females is a potential mechanism to maintain gene flow in this threatened species that has specialist habitat requirements. Hence, female scaly-sided mergansers disperse widely from breeding areas, but show fidelity to nesting areas...

DNA chip-assisted diagnosis of a previously unknown etiology of intermediate uveitis- Toxoplasma gondii

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basu Soumyava

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We report the use of DNA chip technology in the identification of Toxoplasma gondii as the etiological agent in two patients with recurrent intermediate uveitis (IU. Both patients had recurrent episodes of vitritis (with no focal retinochoroidal lesion over varying time intervals and were diagnosed to have IU. The tuberculin test was negative in both. Blood counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and serum angiotensin convertase enzyme levels were normal. In both cases, the vitreous fluid tested positive for the T. gondii DNA sequence by using a uveitis DNA chip (XCyton Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India. It contained complimentary sequences to "signature genes" of T. gondii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. chelonae, and M. fortuitum. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA detected elevated serum antitoxoplasma IgG levels in both. They responded to the antitoxoplasma therapy with oral co-trimoxazole (and additional intravitreal clindamycin in patient 1, with no recurrence during follow-ups of 6 and 8 months, respectively.

Cancers of unknown primary origin (CUP) are characterized by chromosomal instability (CIN) compared to metastasis of know origin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vikeså, Jonas; Møller, Anne Kirstine H; Kaczkowski, Bogumil

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cancers of unknown primary (CUPs) constitute ~5% of all cancers. The tumors have an aggressive biological and clinical behavior. The aim of the present study has been to uncover whether CUPs exhibit distinct molecular features compared to metastases of known origin. METHODS: Employing......RNA signatures of chromosome instability (CIN), indicating that CUPs are chromosome unstable compared to metastases of known origin. CONCLUSIONS: CIN may account for the uncommon clinical presentation, chemoresistance and poor outcome in patients with CUP and warrant selective diagnostic strategies and treatment....... genome wide transcriptome analysis, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA), we defined the putative origins of a large series of CUP and how closely related a particular CUP was to corresponding metastases of known origin. LDA predictions were subsequently used...

Pilot study to establish a nasal tip prediction method from unknown human skeletal remains for facial reconstruction and skull photo superimposition as applied to a Japanese male populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Utsuno, Hajime; Kageyama, Toru; Uchida, Keiichi; Kibayashi, Kazuhiko; Sakurada, Koichi; Uemura, Koichi

2016-02-01

Skull-photo superimposition is a technique used to identify the relationship between the skull and a photograph of a target person: and facial reconstruction reproduces antemortem facial features from an unknown human skull, or identifies the facial features of unknown human skeletal remains. These techniques are based on soft tissue thickness and the relationships between soft tissue and the skull, i.e., the position of the ear and external acoustic meatus, pupil and orbit, nose and nasal aperture, and lips and teeth. However, the ear and nose region are relatively difficult to identify because of their structure, as the soft tissues of these regions are lined with cartilage. We attempted to establish a more accurate method to determine the position of the nasal tip from the skull. We measured the height of the maxilla and mid-lower facial region in 55 Japanese men and generated a regression equation from the collected data. We obtained a result that was 2.0±0.99mm (mean±SD) distant from the true nasal tip, when applied to a validation set consisting of another 12 Japanese men. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Hybrid feature selection for supporting lightweight intrusion detection systems

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Jianglong; Zhao, Wentao; Liu, Qiang; Wang, Xin

2017-08-01

Redundant and irrelevant features not only cause high resource consumption but also degrade the performance of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), especially when coping with big data. These features slow down the process of training and testing in network traffic classification. Therefore, a hybrid feature selection approach in combination with wrapper and filter selection is designed in this paper to build a lightweight intrusion detection system. Two main phases are involved in this method. The first phase conducts a preliminary search for an optimal subset of features, in which the chi-square feature selection is utilized. The selected set of features from the previous phase is further refined in the second phase in a wrapper manner, in which the Random Forest(RF) is used to guide the selection process and retain an optimized set of features. After that, we build an RF-based detection model and make a fair comparison with other approaches. The experimental results on NSL-KDD datasets show that our approach results are in higher detection accuracy as well as faster training and testing processes.

Liability for Unknown Risks: A Law and Economics Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.G. Faure (Michael); L.T. Visscher (Louis); F. Weber (Franziska)

2017-01-01

textabstractIn the law and economics literature liability is generally regarded as an instrument which provides potential tortfeasors with incentives for optimal care taking. The question, however, arises whether liability can still provide those incentives when risks are unknown. That is the

Teleportation of Unknown Superpositions of Collective Atomic Coherent States

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHENG ShiBiao

2001-01-01

We propose a scheme to teleport an unknown superposition of two atomic coherent states with different phases. Our scheme is based on resonant and dispersive atom-field interaction. Our scheme provides a possibility of teleporting macroscopic superposition states of many atoms first time.``

Adresse inconnue / Address unknown / Suchwiin Bulmyeong

OpenAIRE

Serge Gruzinski

2005-01-01

Tous les films asiatiques parlent de métissage, même ceux qui se présentent comme de vastes fresques historiques perdues dans le temps. Les emprunts aux traditions hollywoodiennes et européennes n'ont cessé d'enrichir une cinématographie aussi ancienne que celle du monde occidental. Dans Adresse inconnue (Address unknown) le cinéaste coréen Kim Ki-duk explore l'expérience du métissage et le corps du métis à la frontière entre Corée du Nord et Corée du sud. Fils d'un GI américain et noir et d'...

Adaptive Tracking and Obstacle Avoidance Control for Mobile Robots with Unknown Sliding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingyue Cui

2012-11-01

Full Text Available An adaptive control approach is proposed for trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance for mobile robots with consideration given to unknown sliding. A kinematic model of mobile robots is established in this paper, in which both longitudinal and lateral sliding are considered and processed as three time-varying parameters. A sliding model observer is introduced to estimate the sliding parameters online. A stable tracking control law for this nonholonomic system is proposed to compensate the unknown sliding effect. From Lyapunov-stability analysis, it is proved, regardless of unknown sliding, that tracking errors of the controlled closed-loop system are asymptotically stable, the tracking errors converge to zero outside the obstacle detection region and obstacle avoidance is guaranteed inside the obstacle detection region. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed control system are verified by simulation results.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) and infantile autism: Absence of previously reported point mutation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fon, E.A.; Sarrazin, J.; Rouleau, G.A. [Montreal General Hospital (Canada)] [and others

1995-12-18

Autism is a heterogeneous neuropsychiatric syndrome of unknown etiology. There is evidence that a deficiency in the enzyme adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL), essential for de novo purine biosynthesis, could be involved in the pathogenesis of certain cases. A point mutation in the ADSL gene, resulting in a predicted serine-to-proline substitution and conferring structural instability to the mutant enzyme, has been reported previously in 3 affected siblings. In order to determine the prevalence of the mutation, we PCR-amplified the exon spanning the site of this mutation from the genomic DNA of patients fulfilling DSM-III-R criteria for autistic disorder. None of the 119 patients tested were found to have this mutation. Furthermore, on preliminary screening using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), no novel mutations were detected in the coding sequence of four ADSL exons, spanning approximately 50% of the cDNA. In light of these findings, it appears that mutations in the ADSL gene represent a distinctly uncommon cause of autism. 12 refs., 2 figs.

Multiple analysis of an unknown optical multilayer coating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobrowolski, J.A.; Ho, F.C.; Waldorf, A.

1985-01-01

Results are given of the analysis at five different laboratories of an unknown optical multilayer coating. In all, eleven different analytical and laboratory techniques were applied to the problem. The multilayer nominally consisted of three dielectric and two metallic layers. It was demonstrated convincingly that with present day techniques it is possible to determine the basic structure of such a coating

Distributed Optimization Design of Continuous-Time Multiagent Systems With Unknown-Frequency Disturbances.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xinghu; Hong, Yiguang; Yi, Peng; Ji, Haibo; Kang, Yu

2017-05-24

In this paper, a distributed optimization problem is studied for continuous-time multiagent systems with unknown-frequency disturbances. A distributed gradient-based control is proposed for the agents to achieve the optimal consensus with estimating unknown frequencies and rejecting the bounded disturbance in the semi-global sense. Based on convex optimization analysis and adaptive internal model approach, the exact optimization solution can be obtained for the multiagent system disturbed by exogenous disturbances with uncertain parameters.

Estimation of the false discovery proportion with unknown dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jianqing; Han, Xu

2017-09-01

Large-scale multiple testing with correlated test statistics arises frequently in many scientific research. Incorporating correlation information in approximating false discovery proportion has attracted increasing attention in recent years. When the covariance matrix of test statistics is known, Fan, Han & Gu (2012) provided an accurate approximation of False Discovery Proportion (FDP) under arbitrary dependence structure and some sparsity assumption. However, the covariance matrix is often unknown in many applications and such dependence information has to be estimated before approximating FDP. The estimation accuracy can greatly affect FDP approximation. In the current paper, we aim to theoretically study the impact of unknown dependence on the testing procedure and establish a general framework such that FDP can be well approximated. The impacts of unknown dependence on approximating FDP are in the following two major aspects: through estimating eigenvalues/eigenvectors and through estimating marginal variances. To address the challenges in these two aspects, we firstly develop general requirements on estimates of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for a good approximation of FDP. We then give conditions on the structures of covariance matrices that satisfy such requirements. Such dependence structures include banded/sparse covariance matrices and (conditional) sparse precision matrices. Within this framework, we also consider a special example to illustrate our method where data are sampled from an approximate factor model, which encompasses most practical situations. We provide a good approximation of FDP via exploiting this specific dependence structure. The results are further generalized to the situation where the multivariate normality assumption is relaxed. Our results are demonstrated by simulation studies and some real data applications.

Numerical method of identification of an unknown source term in a heat equation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatullayev Afet Golayo?lu

2002-01-01

Full Text Available A numerical procedure for an inverse problem of identification of an unknown source in a heat equation is presented. Approach of proposed method is to approximate unknown function by polygons linear pieces which are determined consecutively from the solution of minimization problem based on the overspecified data. Numerical examples are presented.

Children with hypercholesterolemia of unknown cause: Value of genetic risk scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjouke, Barbara; Tanck, Michael W T; Fouchier, Sigrid W; Defesche, Joep C; Hutten, Barbara A; Wiegman, Albert; Kastelein, John J P; Hovingh, G Kees

2016-01-01

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is caused by mutations in LDLR, APOB, or PCSK9, and in a previous study, we identified a causative mutation in these FH genes in 95% (255 of 269) of children with the FH phenotype. It has been hypothesized that a polygenic form of hypercholesterolemia is present in FH patients in whom no mutation is identified in the 3 FH genes. To address whether a polygenic form of hypercholesterolemia, defined as high-weighted effect of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) raising SNPs expressed as the genetic risk score (GRS), is present in the remaining 14 children. On reassessment of the molecular diagnosis and clinical phenotype, 8 FH kindreds met the criteria for hypercholesterolemia of unknown cause and were included in this study. We calculated a weighted GRS comprising 10 established LDL-C-associated SNPs and the APOE genotype in these index cases and evaluated whether the index cases were characterized by an increased GRS compared to 26 first-degree relatives. Phenotypically affected and unaffected individuals could not be distinguished based on any of the risk scores. In this and our previous study, we show that a causal mutation in LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 can be identified in almost all children with a definite clinical diagnosis of FH. In the small group of patients without a mutation, we did not observe a higher GRS compared with unaffected relatives, which suggests that the FH phenotype is not caused by the aggregate of LDL-C increasing SNPs. Our data imply that application of the GRS is not instrumental as a diagnostic tool to individually define clinically diagnosed FH patients with polygenic hypercholesterolemia in our study population. Copyright © 2016 National Lipid Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prediction of successful trial of labour in patients with a previous caesarean section

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaheen, N.; Khalil, S.; Iftikhar, P.

2014-01-01

Objective: To determine the prediction rate of success in trial of labour after one previous caesarean section. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Cantonment General Hospital, Rawalpindi, from January 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013, and comprised women with one previous Caesarean section and with single alive foetus at 37-41 weeks of gestation. Women with more than one Caesarean section, unknown site of uterine scar, bony pelvic deformity, placenta previa, intra-uterine growth restriction, deep transverse arrest in previous labour and non-reassuring foetal status at the time of admission were excluded. Intrapartum risk assessment included Bishop score at admission, rate of cervical dilatation and scar tenderness. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Out of a total of 95 women, the trial was successful in 68 (71.6%). Estimated foetal weight and number of prior vaginal deliveries had a high predictive value for successful trial of labour after Caesarean section. Estimated foetal weight had an odds ratio of 0.46 (p<0.001), while number of prior vaginal deliveries had an odds ratio of 0.85 with (p=0.010). Other factors found to be predictive of successful trial included Bishop score at the time of admission (p<0.037) and rate of cervical dilatation in the first stage of labour (p<0.021). Conclusion: History of prior vaginal deliveries, higher Bishop score at the time of admission, rapid rate of cervical dilatation and lower estimated foetal weight were predictive of a successful trial of labour after Caesarean section. (author)

Prospective study of POLG mutations presenting in children with intractable epilepsy: Prevalence and clinical features

OpenAIRE

Uusimaa, Johanna; Gowda, Vasantha; McShane, Anthony; Smith, Conrad; Evans, Julie; Shrier, Annie; Narasimhan, Manisha; O'Rourke, Anthony; Rajabally, Yusuf; Hedderly, Tammy; Cowan, Frances; Fratter, Carl; Poulton, Joanna

2013-01-01

Purpose To assess the frequency and clinical features of childhood-onset intractable epilepsy caused by the most common mutations in the POLG gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma. Methods Children presenting with nonsyndromic intractable epilepsy of unknown etiology but without documented liver dysfunction at presentation were eligible for this prospective, population-based study. Blood samples were analyzed for the three most common POLG mutations. ...

Cancer of unknown primitive metastatic. About two clinical cases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cawen, L; Cordoba, A.

2010-01-01

This work is about the two clinical cases about the unknown primitive metastatic cancer. The main techniques used for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of different s carcinomas are: Electronic microscope, molecular biology and genetics, especially histopathological study, topographic survey, ultrasound, radiography, chemotherapy, radiotherapy

High-order sliding mode observer for fractional commensurate linear systems with unknown input

KAUST Repository

Belkhatir, Zehor; Laleg-Kirati, Taous-Meriem

2017-01-01

In this paper, a high-order sliding mode observer (HOSMO) is proposed for the joint estimation of the pseudo-state and the unknown input of fractional commensurate linear systems with single unknown input and a single output. The convergence of the proposed observer is proved using a Lyapunov-based approach. In addition, an enhanced variant of the proposed fractional-HOSMO is introduced to avoid the peaking phenomenon and thus to improve the estimation results in the transient phase. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed fractional observer in both noise-free and noisy cases. The effect of the observer’s gains on the estimated pseudo-state and unknown input is also discussed.

High-order sliding mode observer for fractional commensurate linear systems with unknown input

KAUST Repository

Belkhatir, Zehor

2017-05-20

In this paper, a high-order sliding mode observer (HOSMO) is proposed for the joint estimation of the pseudo-state and the unknown input of fractional commensurate linear systems with single unknown input and a single output. The convergence of the proposed observer is proved using a Lyapunov-based approach. In addition, an enhanced variant of the proposed fractional-HOSMO is introduced to avoid the peaking phenomenon and thus to improve the estimation results in the transient phase. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed fractional observer in both noise-free and noisy cases. The effect of the observer’s gains on the estimated pseudo-state and unknown input is also discussed.

On reconstruction of an unknown polygonal cavity in a linearized elasticity with one measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikehata, M; Itou, H

2011-01-01

In this paper we consider a reconstruction problem of an unknown polygonal cavity in a linearized elastic body. For this problem, an extraction formula of the convex hull of the unknown polygonal cavity is established by means of the enclosure method introduced by Ikehata. The advantages of our method are that it needs only a single set of boundary data and we do not require any a priori assumptions for the unknown polygonal cavity and any constraints on boundary data. The theoretical formula may have possibility of application in nondestructive evaluation.

Learning Unknown Structure in CRFs via Adaptive Gradient Projection Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Xue

2016-08-01

Full Text Available We study the problem of fitting probabilistic graphical models to the given data when the structure is not known. More specifically, we focus on learning unknown structure in conditional random fields, especially learning both the structure and parameters of a conditional random field model simultaneously. To do this, we first formulate the learning problem as a convex minimization problem by adding an l_2-regularization to the node parameters and a group l_1-regularization to the edge parameters, and then a gradient-based projection method is proposed to solve it which combines an adaptive stepsize selection strategy with a nonmonotone line search. Extensive simulation experiments are presented to show the performance of our approach in solving unknown structure learning problems.

Multiple song features are related to paternal effort in common nightingales.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartsch, Conny; Weiss, Michael; Kipper, Silke

2015-06-18

Sexual ornamentation may be related to the degree of paternal care and the 'good-parent' model predicts that male secondary characters honestly advertise paternal investment. In most birds, males are involved in bringing up the young and successful reproduction highly depends on male contribution during breeding. In passerines, male song is indicative of male attributes and for few species it has been shown that song features also signal paternal investment to females. Males of nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos are famous for their elaborate singing but so far there is only little knowledge on the role of male song in intersexual communication, and it is unknown whether male song predicts male parenting abilities. Using RFID technology to record male feeding visits to the nest, we found that nightingale males substantially contribute to chick feeding. Also, we analyzed male nocturnal song with focus on song features that have been shown to signal male quality before. We found that several song features, namely measures of song complexity and song sequencing, were correlated with male feeding rates. Moreover, the combination of these song features had strong predictive power for male contribution to nestling feeding. Since male nightingales are involved in chick rearing, paternal investment might be a crucial variable for female mate choice in this species. Females may assess future paternal care on the basis of song features identified in our study and thus these features may have evolved to signal direct benefits to females. Additionally we underline the importance of multiple acoustic cues for female mating decisions especially in species with complex song such as the nightingale.

Extensive screening for primary tumor is redundant in melanoma of unknown primary

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tos, Tina; Klyver, Helle; Drzewiecki, Krzysztof T

2011-01-01

For decades, patients in our institution with metastastic melanoma of unknown primary have been subjected to extensive examinations in search of the primary tumor. This retrospective study questions the results, and thus the feasibility of these examinations. Of 103 patients diagnosed with unknow......, for patients referred with metastastic melanoma of unknown primary, we recommend that a detailed history is obtained, and a standard physical examination performed, in addition to a histopathological review and CT/PET for staging....

Teleportation of an Unknown Atomic State via Adiabatic Passage

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2007-01-01

We propose a scheme for teleporting an unknown atomic state via adiabatic passage. Taking advantage of adiabatic passage, the atom has no probability of being excited and thus the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed.We also show that the fidelity can reach 1 under certain condition.

Metastasis to neck from unknown primary tumor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jose, B.; Bosch, A.; Caldwell, W.L.; Frias, Z.

1979-01-01

The records of 54 consecutive patients who were irradiated for metastatic disease in the neck from an unknown primary tumor were reviewed. The overall survival results are comparable to those of other reported series. Patients with high or posterior cervical lymph node involvement were irradiated with fields including the nasopharynx and oropharynx. Patients with high neck nodes had a better survival rate than those with low neck nodes. The size of the neck tumors and the local control after treatment also have prognostic significance. (Auth.)

Histological image classification using biologically interpretable shape-based features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kothari, Sonal; Phan, John H; Young, Andrew N; Wang, May D

2013-01-01

Automatic cancer diagnostic systems based on histological image classification are important for improving therapeutic decisions. Previous studies propose textural and morphological features for such systems. These features capture patterns in histological images that are useful for both cancer grading and subtyping. However, because many of these features lack a clear biological interpretation, pathologists may be reluctant to adopt these features for clinical diagnosis. We examine the utility of biologically interpretable shape-based features for classification of histological renal tumor images. Using Fourier shape descriptors, we extract shape-based features that capture the distribution of stain-enhanced cellular and tissue structures in each image and evaluate these features using a multi-class prediction model. We compare the predictive performance of the shape-based diagnostic model to that of traditional models, i.e., using textural, morphological and topological features. The shape-based model, with an average accuracy of 77%, outperforms or complements traditional models. We identify the most informative shapes for each renal tumor subtype from the top-selected features. Results suggest that these shapes are not only accurate diagnostic features, but also correlate with known biological characteristics of renal tumors. Shape-based analysis of histological renal tumor images accurately classifies disease subtypes and reveals biologically insightful discriminatory features. This method for shape-based analysis can be extended to other histological datasets to aid pathologists in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions

Quadrotor Control in the Presence of Unknown Mass Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Duivenvoorden, Rikky Ricardo Petrus Rufino

Quadrotor UAVs are popular due to their mechanical simplicity, as well as their capability to hover and vertically take-off and land. As applications diversify, quadrotors are increasingly required to operate under unknown mass properties, for example as a multirole sensor platform or for package delivery operations. The work presented here consists of the derivation of a generalized quadrotor dynamic model without the typical simplifying assumptions on the first and second moments of mass. The maximum payload capacity of a quadrotor in hover, and the observability of the unknown mass properties are discussed. A brief introduction of L1 adaptive control is provided, and three different L 1 adaptive controllers were designed for the Parrot AR.Drone quadrotor. Their tracking and disturbance rejection performance was compared to the baseline nonlinear controller in experiments. Finally, the results of the combination of L1 adaptive control with iterative learning control are presented, showing high performance trajectory tracking under uncertainty.

What are the differentiating clinical and MRI-features of enchondromas from low-grade chondrosarcomas?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Douis, Hassan [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); University Hospital Birmingham, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Parry, M. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Vaiyapuri, S. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Musculoskeletal Pathology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Davies, A.M. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom)

2018-01-15

To evaluate the role of clinical assessment, conventional and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in differentiating enchondromas from chondrosarcomas of long bone. The following clinical and MRI findings were assessed: age, gender, pain, pain attributable to lesion, tumour location, tumour length, presence, depth of endosteal scalloping, bone marrow oedema, soft tissue oedema, cortical destruction, periosteal reaction, bone expansion, macroscopic fat, calcification, soft tissue mass, haemorrhage, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. Clinical and MRI findings were compared with histopathological grading. Sixty patients with central chondroid tumours were included (27 enchondromas, 10 cartilaginous lesions of unknown malignant potential, 15 grade 1 chondrosarcomas, 8 high-grade chondrosarcomas). Pain attributed to lesion, tumour length, endosteal scalloping > 2/3, cortical destruction, bone expansion and soft tissue mass were differentiating features between enchondromas and grade 1 chondrosarcomas. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI could not differentiate enchondromas from grade 1 chondrosarcomas. Previously reported imaging signs of chondrosarcomas are useful in the diagnosis of grade 1 lesions but have lower sensitivity than in higher grade lesions. Deep endosteal scalloping is the most sensitive imaging sign of grade 1 chondrosarcomas. Pain due to the lesion is an important clinical sign of grade 1 chondrosarcomas. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI is not useful in differentiating enchondromas from grade 1 chondrosarcomas. (orig.)

Electrocardiographic features of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chyou, Janice Y; Friedman, Daniel; Cerrone, Marina; Slater, William; Guo, Yu; Taupin, Daniel; O'Rourke, Sean; Priori, Silvia G; Devinsky, Orrin

2016-07-01

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the most common cause of epilepsy-related mortality. We hypothesized that electrocardiography (ECG) features may distinguish SUDEP cases from living subjects with epilepsy. Using a matched case-control design, we compared ECG studies of 12 consecutive cases of SUDEP over 10 years and 22 epilepsy controls matched for age, sex, epilepsy type (focal, generalized, or unknown/mixed type), concomitant antiepileptic, and psychotropic drug classes. Conduction intervals and prevalence of abnormal ventricular conduction diagnosis (QRS ≥110 msec), abnormal ventricular conduction pattern (QRS <110 msec, morphology of incomplete right or left bundle branch block or intraventricular conduction delay), early repolarization, and features of inherited cardiac channelopathies were assessed. Abnormal ventricular conduction diagnosis and pattern distinguished SUDEP cases from matched controls. Abnormal ventricular conduction diagnosis was present in two cases and no controls. Abnormal ventricular conduction pattern was more common in cases than controls (58% vs. 18%, p = 0.04). Early repolarization was similarly prevalent in cases and controls, but the overall prevalence exceeded that of published community-based cohorts. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International League Against Epilepsy.

Matrix- and tensor-based recommender systems for the discovery of currently unknown inorganic compounds

Science.gov (United States)

Seko, Atsuto; Hayashi, Hiroyuki; Kashima, Hisashi; Tanaka, Isao

2018-01-01

Chemically relevant compositions (CRCs) and atomic arrangements of inorganic compounds have been collected as inorganic crystal structure databases. Machine learning is a unique approach to search for currently unknown CRCs from vast candidates. Herein we propose matrix- and tensor-based recommender system approaches to predict currently unknown CRCs from database entries of CRCs. Firstly, the performance of the recommender system approaches to discover currently unknown CRCs is examined. A Tucker decomposition recommender system shows the best discovery rate of CRCs as the majority of the top 100 recommended ternary and quaternary compositions correspond to CRCs. Secondly, systematic density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to investigate the phase stability of the recommended compositions. The phase stability of the 27 compositions reveals that 23 currently unknown compounds are newly found to be stable. These results indicate that the recommender system has great potential to accelerate the discovery of new compounds.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of liver and brain in haematologic-organic patients with fever of unknown origin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heussel, C.P.; Kauczor, H.U.; Poguntke, M.; Schadmand-Fischer, S.; Mildenberger, P.; Thelen, M.; Heussel, G.

1998-01-01

To examine the advantage of liver and brain MRI in clinically anomalous haematological patients with fever of unknown origin. Material and Methods: Twenty liver MRI (T 2 -TSE, T 2 -HASTE, T 1 -FLASH±Gd dynamic) and 16 brain MRI (T 2 -TSE, FLAIR, T 1 -TSE±Gd) were performed searching for a focus of fever with a suspected organ system. Comparison with clinical follow-up. Results: suspected organ system. Comparison with clinical follow-up. Results: A focus was detected in 11/20 liver MRI. Candidiasis (n=3), mycobacteriosis (n=2), relapse of haematological disease (n=3), graft versus host disease (n=1), non-clarified (n=2). The remaining 9 cases with normal MRI were not suspicious of infectious hepatic disease during follo-wup. In brain MRI, 3/16 showed a focus (toxoplasmosis, aspergillosis, mastoiditis). Clinical indication for an infectious involvement of the brain was found in 4/16 cases 2--5 months after initially normal brain MRI. No suspicion of an infectious involvement of brain was present in the remaining 9/16 cases. Conclusion: In case of fever of unknown origin and suspicion of liver involvement, MRI of the liver should be performed due to data given in literature and its sensitivity of 100%. Because of the delayed detectability of cerebral manifestations, in cases of persisting suspicion even a previously normal MRI of the brain should be repeated. (orig.) [de

Unknown article by S.P. Pokrovsky at the V.A. Gorodtsov’ archive

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Smirnov Alexander S.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A previously unknown article by Sergey Pavlovich Pokrovsky, founder and first director of the North-Eastern Archaeological and Ethnographic Institute in Kazan, which is now stored at the Written Sources Department with the State Historical Museum, is published. In the article written in the autumn of 1917, S.P. Pokrovsky expresses his opinion on the tasks and objectives of the North-Eastern Institute established by him. On his opinion, the Institute role was to become a center of the Russian oriental studies. Besides ancient history, archaeology, ethnography and language studies of the peoples inhabiting the Volga region, the Institute had to include Siberia and Central Asia in its sphere of research. In addition to scientific goals, the Institute had to serve as a higher education establishment and to train specialists for the entire Eastern part Russia. Working at different state and research bodies, the graduates were to use the knowledge acquired at the Institute for a successful performance of their professional and official tasks. The text of the article is preceded by an introduction providing an evaluation of the publication, substantiating its producing date, and characterizing the scientific and social stance of the scientist.

High dose intensity of cisplatin and etoposide in adenocarcinoma of unknown primary.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, I; Guaglianone, P; Grunberg, S M; Scholz, M; Muggia, F M

1991-01-01

Adenocarcinoma of unknown primary (AUP) has generally a poor prognosis. Previous studies have suggested that Cisplatin and Etoposide have activity in AUP. The aim of this study was to determine if dose intensification of this combination would result in increased efficacy. Each 28 day cycle consisted of Cisplatin 100 mg/m2 given on Day 1 and 8 with Etoposide 80 mg/m2 given on day 1, 2, 8 and 9. Sixteen patients (Pts) with no prior chemotherapy were accrued to this study. Predominant sites of disease were lung, liver, and bone. BHCG and AFP were not elevated. One complete remission was seen in a patient with a mediastinal mass (duration of remission = 59 weeks). Two other patients had a partial response. Overall response rate was 19%. Moderate to severe renal toxicity was recorded in 8 patients, with neuro- and ototoxicities in 2 patients each. Severe granulocytopenia occurred in 8 patients, and one patient died of congestive heart failure on day 1 of cycle 2. This excessive toxicity, without enhanced efficacy does not encourage a more extensive empiric trial by this dose schedule in the treatment of AUP.

Adresse inconnue / Address unknown / Suchwiin Bulmyeong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Serge Gruzinski

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Tous les films asiatiques parlent de métissage, même ceux qui se présentent comme de vastes fresques historiques perdues dans le temps. Les emprunts aux traditions hollywoodiennes et européennes n'ont cessé d'enrichir une cinématographie aussi ancienne que celle du monde occidental. Dans Adresse inconnue (Address unknown le cinéaste coréen Kim Ki-duk explore l'expérience du métissage et le corps du métis à la frontière entre Corée du Nord et Corée du sud. Fils d'un GI américain et noir et d...

SVM-based glioma grading. Optimization by feature reduction analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoellner, Frank G.; Schad, Lothar R.; Emblem, Kyrre E.; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Oslo Univ. Hospital

2012-01-01

We investigated the predictive power of feature reduction analysis approaches in support vector machine (SVM)-based classification of glioma grade. In 101 untreated glioma patients, three analytic approaches were evaluated to derive an optimal reduction in features; (i) Pearson's correlation coefficients (PCC), (ii) principal component analysis (PCA) and (iii) independent component analysis (ICA). Tumor grading was performed using a previously reported SVM approach including whole-tumor cerebral blood volume (CBV) histograms and patient age. Best classification accuracy was found using PCA at 85% (sensitivity = 89%, specificity = 84%) when reducing the feature vector from 101 (100-bins rCBV histogram + age) to 3 principal components. In comparison, classification accuracy by PCC was 82% (89%, 77%, 2 dimensions) and 79% by ICA (87%, 75%, 9 dimensions). For improved speed (up to 30%) and simplicity, feature reduction by all three methods provided similar classification accuracy to literature values (∝87%) while reducing the number of features by up to 98%. (orig.)

SVM-based glioma grading. Optimization by feature reduction analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zoellner, Frank G.; Schad, Lothar R. [University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg Univ., Mannheim (Germany). Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine; Emblem, Kyrre E. [Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston MA (United States). Dept. of Radiology; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States); Oslo Univ. Hospital (Norway). The Intervention Center

2012-11-01

We investigated the predictive power of feature reduction analysis approaches in support vector machine (SVM)-based classification of glioma grade. In 101 untreated glioma patients, three analytic approaches were evaluated to derive an optimal reduction in features; (i) Pearson's correlation coefficients (PCC), (ii) principal component analysis (PCA) and (iii) independent component analysis (ICA). Tumor grading was performed using a previously reported SVM approach including whole-tumor cerebral blood volume (CBV) histograms and patient age. Best classification accuracy was found using PCA at 85% (sensitivity = 89%, specificity = 84%) when reducing the feature vector from 101 (100-bins rCBV histogram + age) to 3 principal components. In comparison, classification accuracy by PCC was 82% (89%, 77%, 2 dimensions) and 79% by ICA (87%, 75%, 9 dimensions). For improved speed (up to 30%) and simplicity, feature reduction by all three methods provided similar classification accuracy to literature values ({proportional_to}87%) while reducing the number of features by up to 98%. (orig.)

The usage of fasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin for the identification of unknown type 2 diabetes in high risk patients with morbid obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Valderhaug, Tone G; Sharma, Archana; Kravdal, Gunnhild; Rønningen, Reidun; Nermoen, Ingrid

2017-11-01

In spite of increased vigilance of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (DM2), the prevalence of unknown DM2 in subjects with morbid obesity is not known. To assess the prevalence of undiagnosed DM2 and compare the performance of glycated A1c (HbA1c) and fasting glucose (FG) for the diagnosis of DM2 and prediabetes (preDM) in patients with morbid obesity. We measured fasting glucose and HbA1c in 537 consecutive patients with morbid obesity without previously known DM2. A total of 49 (9%) patients with morbid obesity had unknown DM2 out of which 16 (33%) fulfilled both the criteria for HbA1c and FG. Out of 284 (53%) subjects with preDM, 133 (47%) fulfilled both the criteria for HbA1c and FG. Measurements of agreement for FG and HbA1c were moderate for DM2 (κ = 0.461, p obesity.

Optimal conclusive teleportation of a d-dimensional two-particle unknown quantum state

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yang Yu-Guang; Wen Qiao-Yan; Zhu Fu-Chen

2006-01-01

A conclusive teleportation protocol of a d-dimensional two-particle unknown quantum state using three ddimensional particles in an arbitrary pure state is proposed. A sender teleports the unknown state conclusively to a receiver by using the positive operator valued measure(POVM) and introducing an ancillary qudit to perform the generalized Bell basis measurement. We calculate the optimal teleportation fidelity. We also discuss and analyse the reason why the information on the teleported state is lost in the course of the protocol.

Origins of the 3.28 μm dust emission feature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gatley, I.

1984-01-01

Some practical problems encountered in making spectroscopic observations in the 3 - 4 μm wavelength range are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of observations of the Galactic center, and their implications for the origins of the 3.28 μm dust emission feature. These observations suggest, in contrast to some previous analyses, that the carrier of the 3.28 μm feature may be a common, non-volatile component of interstellar grains. (author)

Small scale karst features (tube karren) as evidence of a latest Quaternary fossil landslide

Science.gov (United States)

Stöger, Tobias; Plan, Lukas; Draganits, Erich

2017-04-01

At least since 1933 numerous small dissolutional holes in the ceilings of overhangs and small caves have been known from a restricted area in the Northern Calcareous Alps in Lower Austria but not investigated yet. These tube-shaped structures are a few centimetres in diameter, more or less vertical, taper upwards, are closed at the top and penetrate some tens of centimetres into the Middle Triassic limestone. Very similar features were described by Simms (2002) from the shores of three lakes in western Ireland and termed Röhrenkarren or tube karren. According to his model they formed by condensation corrosion within air pockets trapped by seasonal floods. The features investigated in the present study occur on both sides of a valley in the north eastern part of the Northern Calcareous Alps south of the city Sankt Pölten. Presently there is no lake and so far no paleo lake is known from this area. Based on airborne laser scanning data and field observations in a narrow section of the valley downstream of the tube karren sites, a previously unknown potential fossil landslide was discovered. The clayey silty sediments upstream of the landslide are interpreted as palaeo-lake sediments. This interpretation is supported by the existence of abundant dragonfly eggs within these deposits. The same fine-grained sediments are partly also found inside the tube karren. These observations are interpreted that a landslide-dammed palaeo-lake formed due to the mass movement that blocked the river and the tube karren were formed by seasonal fluctuations of the lake level. Geochronological dating of calcite crusts covering the karren and of the organic material of the dragonfly eggs are on the way. As the karren features look quite fresh and unweathered and from the diffuse shape of the landslide a late Quaternary age is estimated. References Simms, M.J. 2002. The origin of enigmatic, tubular, lake-shore karren: a mechanism for rapid dissolution of limestone in carbonate

Blind Identification of FIR Channels in the Presence of Unknown Noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kon Max Wong

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Blind channel identification techniques based on second-order statistics (SOS of the received data have been a topic of active research in recent years. Among the most popular is the subspace method (SS proposed by Moulines et al. (1995. It has good performance when the channel output is corrupted by white noise. However, when the channel noise is correlated and unknown as is often encountered in practice, the performance of the SS method degrades severely. In this paper, we address the problem of estimating FIR channels in the presence of arbitrarily correlated noise whose covariance matrix is unknown. We propose several algorithms according to the different available system resources: (1 when only one receiving antenna is available, by upsampling the output, we develop the maximum a posteriori (MAP algorithm for which a simple criterion is obtained and an efficient implementation algorithm is developed; (2 when two receiving antennae are available, by upsampling both the outputs and utilizing canonical correlation decomposition (CCD to obtain the subspaces, we present two algorithms (CCD-SS and CCD-ML to blindly estimate the channels. Our algorithms perform well in unknown noise environment and outperform existing methods proposed for similar scenarios.

A novel algorithm for fast grasping of unknown objects using C-shape configuration

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Qujiang; Chen, Guangming; Meijer, Jonathan; Wisse, Martijn

2018-02-01

Increasing grasping efficiency is very important for the robots to grasp unknown objects especially subjected to unfamiliar environments. To achieve this, a new algorithm is proposed based on the C-shape configuration. Specifically, the geometric model of the used under-actuated gripper is approximated as a C-shape. To obtain an appropriate graspable position, this C-shape configuration is applied to fit geometric model of an unknown object. The geometric model of unknown object is constructed by using a single-view partial point cloud. To examine the algorithm using simulations, a comparison of the commonly used motion planners is made. The motion planner with the highest number of solved runs, lowest computing time and the shortest path length is chosen to execute grasps found by this grasping algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that excellent grasping efficiency is achieved by adopting our algorithm. To validate this algorithm, experiment tests are carried out using a UR5 robot arm and an under-actuated gripper. The experimental results show that steady grasping actions are obtained. Hence, this research provides a novel algorithm for fast grasping of unknown objects.

Hyperprolactinemia after laparoscopic ovarian drilling: An unknown phenomenon

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Omrani Gholamhossein R

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The effects of ovarian drilling on the serum levels of gonadotropins and androgens have been studied previously. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of ovarian drilling on the serum prolactin levels and its relation to ovulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Methods This is a prospective controlled study. Thirty-six women with PCOS underwent ovarian electrocauterization in university hospitals. Control group consisted of 35 ovulatory women with unexplained infertility. Hormonal assessment performed in early follicular phase of spontaneous or induced cycle before operation in the two groups and repeated one week after operation. Hormonal assay was also performed in the early follicular phase of the first post-operative menstruation, folliculometry and progesterone assay were also performed in the same cycle. Data were analyzed by "repeated measurement design, discriminant analysis, correlation coefficient, and Fisher exact test". Results Six to ten weeks after operation the serum mean +/- SD prolactin levels increased from 284.41 +/- 114.32 mIU/ml to 354.06 +/- 204.42 mIU/ml (P = 0.011. The same values for the control group were 277.73 +/- 114.65 to 277.4 +/- 111.4 (P = 0.981 respectively. Approximately 45% of subjects in PCOS group remained anovulatory in spite of decreased level of LH and testosterone. Prolactin level remained elevated in 73.2% of women who did not ovulate 6–10 weeks after the procedure. Conclusion Hyperprolactinemia after ovarian cauterization may be considered as a possible cause of anovulation in women with polycystic ovaries and improved gonadotropin and androgen levels. The cause of hyperprolactinemia is unknown. Hormonal assay particularly PRL in anovulatory patients after ovarian cauterization is recommended.

A sensitivity analysis approach to control of manipulators with unknown load

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tzes, A.; Yurkovich, S.

1987-01-01

This paper presents a straightforward control strategy applied to an N-link manipulator holding an unknown load and driving its end effector along a prespecified trajectory. The control is constituted into two primary components. The non-adaptive component is derived from the inverse problem technique while the adaptive component is computed via the application of sensitivity analysis applied to the complete, centralized dynamic model of the manipulator. The result is a robust adaptive controller which tunes its parameters at specified time instants and can withstand all expected variations of the payload. The control synthesis is illustrated by simulations in a 2-link planar manipulator holding an unknown load

Estimating perception of scene layout properties from global image features.

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Ross, Michael G; Oliva, Aude

2010-01-08

The relationship between image features and scene structure is central to the study of human visual perception and computer vision, but many of the specifics of real-world layout perception remain unknown. We do not know which image features are relevant to perceiving layout properties, or whether those features provide the same information for every type of image. Furthermore, we do not know the spatial resolutions required for perceiving different properties. This paper describes an experiment and a computational model that provides new insights on these issues. Humans perceive the global spatial layout properties such as dominant depth, openness, and perspective, from a single image. This work describes an algorithm that reliably predicts human layout judgments. This model's predictions are general, not specific to the observers it trained on. Analysis reveals that the optimal spatial resolutions for determining layout vary with the content of the space and the property being estimated. Openness is best estimated at high resolution, depth is best estimated at medium resolution, and perspective is best estimated at low resolution. Given the reliability and simplicity of estimating the global layout of real-world environments, this model could help resolve perceptual ambiguities encountered by more detailed scene reconstruction schemas.

Active learning for ontological event extraction incorporating named entity recognition and unknown word handling.

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Han, Xu; Kim, Jung-jae; Kwoh, Chee Keong

2016-01-01

Biomedical text mining may target various kinds of valuable information embedded in the literature, but a critical obstacle to the extension of the mining targets is the cost of manual construction of labeled data, which are required for state-of-the-art supervised learning systems. Active learning is to choose the most informative documents for the supervised learning in order to reduce the amount of required manual annotations. Previous works of active learning, however, focused on the tasks of entity recognition and protein-protein interactions, but not on event extraction tasks for multiple event types. They also did not consider the evidence of event participants, which might be a clue for the presence of events in unlabeled documents. Moreover, the confidence scores of events produced by event extraction systems are not reliable for ranking documents in terms of informativity for supervised learning. We here propose a novel committee-based active learning method that supports multi-event extraction tasks and employs a new statistical method for informativity estimation instead of using the confidence scores from event extraction systems. Our method is based on a committee of two systems as follows: We first employ an event extraction system to filter potential false negatives among unlabeled documents, from which the system does not extract any event. We then develop a statistical method to rank the potential false negatives of unlabeled documents 1) by using a language model that measures the probabilities of the expression of multiple events in documents and 2) by using a named entity recognition system that locates the named entities that can be event arguments (e.g. proteins). The proposed method further deals with unknown words in test data by using word similarity measures. We also apply our active learning method for the task of named entity recognition. We evaluate the proposed method against the BioNLP Shared Tasks datasets, and show that our method

Magnetic resonance appearance of monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance and multiple myeloma. The GRI Study Group.

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Bellaïche, L; Laredo, J D; Lioté, F; Koeger, A C; Hamze, B; Ziza, J M; Pertuiset, E; Bardin, T; Tubiana, J M

1997-11-01

A prospective multicenter study. To evaluate the use of magnetic resonance imaging, in the differentiation between monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance and multiple myeloma. Although multiple myeloma has been studied extensively with magnetic resonance imaging, to the authors' knowledge, no study has evaluated the clinical interest of magnetic resonance imaging in the differentiation between monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance and multiple myeloma. The magnetic resonance examinations of the thoracolumbar spine in 24 patients with newly diagnosed monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance were compared with those performed in 44 patients with newly diagnosed nontreated multiple myeloma. All findings on magnetic resonance examination performed in patients with monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance were normal, whereas findings on 38 (86%) of the 44 magnetic resonance examinations performed in patients with multiple myeloma were abnormal. Magnetic resonance imaging can be considered as an additional diagnostic tool in differentiating between monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance and multiple myeloma, which may be helpful when routine criteria are not sufficient. An abnormal finding on magnetic resonance examination in a patient with monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance should suggest the diagnosis of multiple myeloma after other causes of marrow signal abnormalities are excluded. Magnetic resonance imaging also may be proposed in the long-term follow-up of monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance when a new biologic or clinical event suggests the diagnosis of malignant monoclonal gammopathy.

MUSIC-type imaging of small perfectly conducting cracks with an unknown frequency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Won-Kwang

2015-01-01

MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) is a famous non-iterative detection algorithm in inverse scattering problems. However, when the applied frequency is unknown, inaccurate locations are identified via MUSIC. This fact has been confirmed through numerical simulations. However, the reason behind this phenomenon has not been investigated theoretically. Motivated by this fact, we identify the structure of MUSIC-type imaging functionals with unknown frequency, by establishing a relationship with Bessel functions of order zero of the first kind. Through this, we can explain why inaccurate results appear. (paper)

MUSIC-type imaging of small perfectly conducting cracks with an unknown frequency

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Won-Kwang

2015-09-01

MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) is a famous non-iterative detection algorithm in inverse scattering problems. However, when the applied frequency is unknown, inaccurate locations are identified via MUSIC. This fact has been confirmed through numerical simulations. However, the reason behind this phenomenon has not been investigated theoretically. Motivated by this fact, we identify the structure of MUSIC-type imaging functionals with unknown frequency, by establishing a relationship with Bessel functions of order zero of the first kind. Through this, we can explain why inaccurate results appear.

Editoria: EBOLA: Fear of the unknown | Comoro | Tanzania Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tanzania Journal of Health Research. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 3, No 2 (2001) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. Editoria: EBOLA: Fear of the unknown. C. Comoro, J.

[Focal myositis: An unknown disease].

Science.gov (United States)

Gallay, L; Streichenberger, N; Benveniste, O; Allenbach, Y

2017-10-01

Focal myositis are inflammatory muscle diseases of unknown origin. At the opposite from the other idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, they are restricted to a single muscle or to a muscle group. They are not associated with extramuscular manifestations, and they have a good prognosis without any treatment. They are characterized by a localized swelling affecting mostly lower limbs. The pseudo-tumor can be painful, but is not associated with a muscle weakness. Creatine kinase level is normal. Muscle MRI shows an inflammation restricted to a muscle or a muscle group. Muscle biopsy and pathological analysis remain necessary for the diagnosis, showing inflammatory infiltrates composed by macrophages and lymphocytes without any specific distribution within the muscle. Focal overexpression of HLA-1 by the muscle fibers is frequently observed. The muscle biopsy permits to rule out differential diagnosis such a malignancy (sarcoma). Spontaneous remission occurs within weeks or months after the first symptoms, relapse is unusual. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier SAS.

Automated pathway and reaction prediction facilitates in silico identification of unknown metabolites in human cohort studies.

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Quell, Jan D; Römisch-Margl, Werner; Colombo, Marco; Krumsiek, Jan; Evans, Anne M; Mohney, Robert; Salomaa, Veikko; de Faire, Ulf; Groop, Leif C; Agakov, Felix; Looker, Helen C; McKeigue, Paul; Colhoun, Helen M; Kastenmüller, Gabi

2017-12-15

Identification of metabolites in non-targeted metabolomics continues to be a bottleneck in metabolomics studies in large human cohorts. Unidentified metabolites frequently emerge in the results of association studies linking metabolite levels to, for example, clinical phenotypes. For further analyses these unknown metabolites must be identified. Current approaches utilize chemical information, such as spectral details and fragmentation characteristics to determine components of unknown metabolites. Here, we propose a systems biology model exploiting the internal correlation structure of metabolite levels in combination with existing biochemical and genetic information to characterize properties of unknown molecules. Levels of 758 metabolites (439 known, 319 unknown) in human blood samples of 2279 subjects were measured using a non-targeted metabolomics platform (LC-MS and GC-MS). We reconstructed the structure of biochemical pathways that are imprinted in these metabolomics data by building an empirical network model based on 1040 significant partial correlations between metabolites. We further added associations of these metabolites to 134 genes from genome-wide association studies as well as reactions and functional relations to genes from the public database Recon 2 to the network model. From the local neighborhood in the network, we were able to predict the pathway annotation of 180 unknown metabolites. Furthermore, we classified 100 pairs of known and unknown and 45 pairs of unknown metabolites to 21 types of reactions based on their mass differences. As a proof of concept, we then looked further into the special case of predicted dehydrogenation reactions leading us to the selection of 39 candidate molecules for 5 unknown metabolites. Finally, we could verify 2 of those candidates by applying LC-MS analyses of commercially available candidate substances. The formerly unknown metabolites X-13891 and X-13069 were shown to be 2-dodecendioic acid and 9

Sonographic features of lethal multiple pterygium syndrome at 14 weeks.

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Chen, Min; Chan, Gavin Shueng Wai; Lee, Chin Peng; Tang, Mary Hoi Yin

2005-06-01

Lethal multiple pterygium syndrome is a rare inherited disorder. Previous reports suggest that the diagnosis may be based on prenatal sonographic demonstration of severe limb flexion, absence of fetal motion, and a large cystic hygroma in the second and third trimesters. We present the sonographic features and postmortem features of a fetus with lethal multiple pterygium syndrome at 13 weeks of gestation, which shows that the condition can possibly be diagnosed in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Carcinomatous Meningitis from Unknown Primary Carcinoma

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L. Favier

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Carcinomatous meningitis (CM occurs in 3 to 8% of cancer patients. Patients present with a focal symptom, and multifocal signs are often found following neurological examination. The gold standard for diagnosis remains the demonstration of carcinomatous cells in the cerebrospinal fluid on cytopathological examination. Despite the poor prognosis, palliative treatment could improve quality of life and, in some cases, overall survival. We report on a patient who presented with vertigo, tinnitus and left-sided hearing loss followed by progressive diffuse facial nerve paralysis. Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid confirmed the diagnosis of CM. However, no primary tumor was discovered, even after multiple invasive investigations. This is the first reported case in the English-language medical literature of CM resulting from a carcinoma of unknown primary origin.

Three-dimensional cinematography with control object of unknown shape.

Science.gov (United States)

Dapena, J; Harman, E A; Miller, J A

1982-01-01

A technique for reconstruction of three-dimensional (3D) motion which involves a simple filming procedure but allows the deduction of coordinates in large object volumes was developed. Internal camera parameters are calculated from measurements of the film images of two calibrated crosses while external camera parameters are calculated from the film images of points in a control object of unknown shape but at least one known length. The control object, which includes the volume in which the activity is to take place, is formed by a series of poles placed at unknown locations, each carrying two targets. From the internal and external camera parameters, and from locations of the images of point in the films of the two cameras, 3D coordinates of the point can be calculated. Root mean square errors of the three coordinates of points in a large object volume (5m x 5m x 1.5m) were 15 mm, 13 mm, 13 mm and 6 mm, and relative errors in lengths averaged 0.5%, 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Unknown loads affect force production capacity in early phases of bench press throws.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández Davó, J L; Sabido Solana, R; Sarabia Marínm, J M; Sánchez Martos, Á; Moya Ramón, M

2015-10-01

Explosive strength training aims to improve force generation in early phases of movement due to its importance in sport performance. The present study examined the influence of lack of knowledge about the load lifted in explosive parameters during bench press throws. Thirteen healthy young men (22.8±2.0 years) participated in the study. Participants performed bench press throws with three different loads (30, 50 and 70% of 1 repetition maximum) in two different conditions (known and unknown loads). In unknown condition, loads were changed within sets in each repetition and participants did not know the load, whereas in known condition the load did not change within sets and participants had knowledge about the load lifted. Results of repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that unknown conditions involves higher power in the first 30, 50, 100 and 150 ms with the three loads, higher values of ratio of force development in those first instants, and differences in time to reach maximal rate of force development with 50 and 70% of 1 repetition maximum. This study showed that unknown conditions elicit higher values of explosive parameters in early phases of bench press throws, thereby this kind of methodology could be considered in explosive strength training.

Oversampling the Minority Class in the Feature Space.

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Perez-Ortiz, Maria; Gutierrez, Pedro Antonio; Tino, Peter; Hervas-Martinez, Cesar

2016-09-01

The imbalanced nature of some real-world data is one of the current challenges for machine learning researchers. One common approach oversamples the minority class through convex combination of its patterns. We explore the general idea of synthetic oversampling in the feature space induced by a kernel function (as opposed to input space). If the kernel function matches the underlying problem, the classes will be linearly separable and synthetically generated patterns will lie on the minority class region. Since the feature space is not directly accessible, we use the empirical feature space (EFS) (a Euclidean space isomorphic to the feature space) for oversampling purposes. The proposed method is framed in the context of support vector machines, where the imbalanced data sets can pose a serious hindrance. The idea is investigated in three scenarios: 1) oversampling in the full and reduced-rank EFSs; 2) a kernel learning technique maximizing the data class separation to study the influence of the feature space structure (implicitly defined by the kernel function); and 3) a unified framework for preferential oversampling that spans some of the previous approaches in the literature. We support our investigation with extensive experiments over 50 imbalanced data sets.

Zero Distribution of System with Unknown Random Variables Case Study: Avoiding Collision Path

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Parman Setyamartana

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the stochastic analysis of finding the feasible trajectories of robotics arm motion at obstacle surrounding. Unknown variables are coefficients of polynomials joint angle so that the collision-free motion is achieved. ãk is matrix consisting of these unknown feasible polynomial coefficients. The pattern of feasible polynomial in the obstacle environment shows as random. This paper proposes to model the pattern of this randomness values using random polynomial with unknown variables as coefficients. The behavior of the system will be obtained from zero distribution as the characteristic of such random polynomial. Results show that the pattern of random polynomial of avoiding collision can be constructed from zero distribution. Zero distribution is like building block of the system with obstacles as uncertainty factor. By scale factor k, which has range, the random coefficient pattern can be predicted.

Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Science.gov (United States)

Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) treatment depends on the best determination of the primary site, if possible. Treatment options may include surgery, radiation therapy, and systemic treatment. Get detailed information about diagnosis and treatment of CUP in this summary for clinicians.

An Indoor Slam Method Based on Kinect and Multi-Feature Extended Information Filter

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Chang, M.; Kang, Z.

2017-09-01

Based on the frame of ORB-SLAM in this paper the transformation parameters between adjacent Kinect image frames are computed using ORB keypoints, from which priori information matrix and information vector are calculated. The motion update of multi-feature extended information filter is then realized. According to the point cloud data formed by depth image, ICP algorithm was used to extract the point features of the point cloud data in the scene and built an observation model while calculating a-posteriori information matrix and information vector, and weakening the influences caused by the error accumulation in the positioning process. Furthermore, this paper applied ORB-SLAM frame to realize autonomous positioning in real time in interior unknown environment. In the end, Lidar was used to get data in the scene in order to estimate positioning accuracy put forward in this paper.

AN INDOOR SLAM METHOD BASED ON KINECT AND MULTI-FEATURE EXTENDED INFORMATION FILTER

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M. Chang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Based on the frame of ORB-SLAM in this paper the transformation parameters between adjacent Kinect image frames are computed using ORB keypoints, from which priori information matrix and information vector are calculated. The motion update of multi-feature extended information filter is then realized. According to the point cloud data formed by depth image, ICP algorithm was used to extract the point features of the point cloud data in the scene and built an observation model while calculating a-posteriori information matrix and information vector, and weakening the influences caused by the error accumulation in the positioning process. Furthermore, this paper applied ORB-SLAM frame to realize autonomous positioning in real time in interior unknown environment. In the end, Lidar was used to get data in the scene in order to estimate positioning accuracy put forward in this paper.

Differences in clinical features according to Boryoung and Karp genotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi.

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Dong-Min Kim

Full Text Available Scrub typhus is an infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. The differences in virulence of O. tsutsugamushi prototypes in humans are still unknown. We investigated whether there are any differences in the clinical features of the Boryoung and Karp genotypes.Patients infected with O. tsutsugamushi, as Boryoung and Karp clusters, who had visited 6 different hospitals in southwestern Korea were prospectively compared for clinical features, complications, laboratory parameters, and treatment responses. Infected patients in the Boryoung cluster had significantly more generalized weakness, eschars, skin rashes, conjunctival injection, high albumin levels, and greater ESR and fibrinogen levels compared to the Karp cluster. The treatment response to current antibiotics was significantly slower in the Karp cluster as compared to the Boryoung cluster.The frequency of occurrence of eschars and rashes may depend on the genotype of O. tsutsugamushi.

Traumatic glaucoma with features of unilateral pigment dispersion.

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Bowler, Gordon; Ellul, Antony; Gouws, Pieter

2014-01-01

We report a patient with traumatic glaucoma with features of unilateral pigment dispersion. This rare form of secondary glaucoma has only been reported twice previously, with both patients demonstrating angle recession, indicating associated damage to the trabecular meshwork. To our knowledge, this is the first such case reported in which angle recession was absent.

Bipolar mixed features - Results from the comparative effectiveness for bipolar disorder (Bipolar CHOICE) study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tohen, Mauricio; Gold, Alexandra K; Sylvia, Louisa G; Montana, Rebecca E; McElroy, Susan L; Thase, Michael E; Rabideau, Dustin J; Nierenberg, Andrew A; Reilly-Harrington, Noreen A; Friedman, Edward S; Shelton, Richard C; Bowden, Charles L; Singh, Vivek; Deckersbach, Thilo; Ketter, Terence A; Calabrese, Joseph R; Bobo, William V; McInnis, Melvin G

2017-08-01

DSM-5 changed the criteria from DSM-IV for mixed features in mood disorder episodes to include non-overlapping symptoms of depression and hypomania/mania. It is unknown if, by changing these criteria, the same group would qualify for mixed features. We assessed how those meeting DSM-5 criteria for mixed features compare to those meeting DSM-IV criteria. We analyzed data from 482 adult bipolar patients in Bipolar CHOICE, a randomized comparative effectiveness trial. Bipolar diagnoses were confirmed through the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Presence and severity of mood symptoms were collected with the Bipolar Inventory of Symptoms Scale (BISS) and linked to DSM-5 and DSM-IV mixed features criteria. Baseline demographics and clinical variables were compared between mood episode groups using ANOVA for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables. At baseline, the frequency of DSM-IV mixed episodes diagnoses obtained with the MINI was 17% and with the BISS was 20%. Using DSM-5 criteria, 9% of participants met criteria for hypomania/mania with mixed features and 12% met criteria for a depressive episode with mixed features. Symptom severity was also associated with increased mixed features with a high rate of mixed features in patients with mania/hypomania (63.8%) relative to those with depression (8.0%). Data on mixed features were collected at baseline only and thus do not reflect potential patterns in mixed features within this sample across the study duration. The DSM-5 narrower, non-overlapping definition of mixed episodes resulted in fewer patients who met mixed criteria compared to DSM-IV. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Running over unknown rough terrain with a one-legged planar robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, Ben; Miller, Bruce; Clark, Jonathan E; Schmitt, John

2011-01-01

The ability to traverse unknown, rough terrain is an advantage that legged locomoters have over their wheeled counterparts. However, due to the complexity of multi-legged systems, research in legged robotics has not yet been able to reproduce the agility found in the animal kingdom. In an effort to reduce the complexity of the problem, researchers have developed single-legged models to gain insight into the fundamental dynamics of legged running. Inspired by studies of animal locomotion, researchers have proposed numerous control strategies to achieve stable, one-legged running over unknown, rough terrain. One such control strategy incorporates energy variations into the system during the stance phase by changing the force-free leg length as a sinusoidal function of time. In this research, a one-legged planar robot capable of implementing this and other state-of-the-art control strategies was designed and built. Both simulated and experimental results were used to determine and compare the stability of the proposed controllers as the robot was subjected to unknown drop and raised step perturbations equal to 25% of the nominal leg length. This study illustrates the relative advantages of utilizing a minimal-sensing, active energy removal control scheme to stabilize running over rough terrain.

Iron overload patients with unknown etiology from national survey in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ikuta, Katsuya; Hatayama, Mayumi; Addo, Lynda; Toki, Yasumichi; Sasaki, Katsunori; Tatsumi, Yasuaki; Hattori, Ai; Kato, Ayako; Kato, Koichi; Hayashi, Hisao; Suzuki, Takahiro; Kobune, Masayoshi; Tsutsui, Miyuki; Gotoh, Akihiko; Aota, Yasuo; Matsuura, Motoo; Hamada, Yuzuru; Tokuda, Takahiro; Komatsu, Norio; Kohgo, Yutaka

2017-03-01

Transfusion is believed to be the main cause of iron overload in Japan. A nationwide survey on post-transfusional iron overload subsequently led to the establishment of guidelines for iron chelation therapy in this country. To date, however, detailed clinical information on the entire iron overload population in Japan has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we obtained and studied detailed clinical information on the iron overload patient population in Japan. Of 1109 iron overload cases, 93.1% were considered to have occurred post-transfusion. There were, however, 76 cases of iron overload of unknown origin, which suggest that many clinicians in Japan may encounter some difficulty in correctly diagnosing and treating iron overload. Further clinical data were obtained for 32 cases of iron overload of unknown origin; median of serum ferritin was 1860.5 ng/mL. As occurs in post-transfusional iron overload, liver dysfunction was found to be as high as 95.7% when serum ferritin levels exceeded 1000 ng/mL in these patients. Gene mutation analysis of the iron metabolism-related genes in 27 cases of iron overload with unknown etiology revealed mutations in the gene coding hemojuvelin, transferrin receptor 2, and ferroportin; this indicates that although rare, hereditary hemochromatosis does occur in Japan.

Approximate and Conditional Teleportation of an Unknown Atomic-Entangled State Without Bell-State Measurement

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

CHEN Chang-Yong; LI Shao-Hua

2007-01-01

A scheme for approximately and conditionally teleporting an unknown atomic-entangled state in cavity QED is proposed.It is the novel extension of the scheme of [Phys.Rev.A 69 (2004) 064302],where the state to be teleported is an unknown atomic state and where only a time point of system evolution and the corresponding fidelity implementing the teleportation are given.In fact,there exists multi-time points and the corresponding fidclities,which are shown in this paper and then are used to realize the approximate and conditional teleportation of the unknown atomic-entangled state.Naturally,our scheme does not involve the Bell-state measurement or an additional atom,which is required in the Bell-state measurement,only requiring one single-mode cavity.The scheme may be generalized to not only the teleportation of the cavity-mode-entangled-state by means of a single atom but also the teleportation of the unknown trapped-ion-entangled-state in a linear ion trap and the teleportation of the multi-atomic entangled states included in generalized GHZ states.

'Reacting to the unknown': experiencing the first birth at home or in hospital in Australia.

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Dahlen, Hannah G; Barclay, Lesley; Homer, Caroline S E

2010-08-01

to explore the experiences of a small group of first-time mothers giving birth at home or in hospital. a grounded theory methodology was used. Data were generated from in-depth interviews with women in their own homes. Sydney, Australia. 19 women were interviewed. Seven women who gave birth for the first time in a public hospital and seven women who gave birth for the first time at home were interviewed, and their experiences were contrasted with two mothers who gave birth for the first time in a birth centre, one mother who gave birth for the first time in a private hospital and two women who had given birth more than once. these women shared common experiences of giving birth as 'novices'. Regardless of birth setting, they were all 'reacting to the unknown'. As they entered labour, the women chose different levels of responsibility for their birth. They also readjusted their expectations when the reality of labour occurred, reacted to the 'force' of labour, and connected or disconnected from the labour and eventually the baby. knowing that first-time mothers, irrespective of birth setting, are essentially 'reacting to the unknown' as they negotiate the experience of birth, could alter the way in which care is provided and increase the sensitivity of midwives to women's needs. Most importantly, midwives need to be aware of the need to help women adjust their expectations during labour and birth. Identifying the 'novice' status of first-time mothers also better explains previous research that reports unrealistic expectations and fear that may be associated with first-time birthing. Crown Copyright 2008. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of infants with jaundice due to maternal diabetes and infants with unknown jaundice

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Hassan Boskabadi

2017-07-01

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, among 2,800 infants with jaundice in Ghaem hospital in Mashhad during the 2007 to 2014, features of 59 infants of diabetic mother's (case group and 78 infants with unknown jaundice (control group were analyzed. After confirming of jaundice (Bilirubin ≥ 17 mg/dl in newborns based on examination of pediatrician and laboratory results, a researcher made questionnaire containing maternal demographic data, (maternal age, parity, maternal problems during pregnancy, route of delivery. Also neonatal characteristics including age, sex, birth weight, current weight, duration of hospitalization, current age, age of recovery and laboratory data (Bilirubin, direct bilirubin, hematocrit, platelet, sodium, potassium, blood urea nitrogen, Cr, TSH, T4 were assessed. After data collection and recording information in SPSS software, version 19.5 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA, by using tables, charts and statistical indices, the study was evaluated. Data were analyzed using statistical tests such as Mann-Whitney, Chi-square tests after normality control. Comparison of the two groups in normal distribution with t-test and for non-standard data with Mann-Whitney test. Also for definitive variables Chi-square test was used. P-value less than 0.50 was the significant level minimum. Results: In this study, the prevalence of jaundice due to maternal diabetes was 2.10 percent. Birth weight (P=0.02, current age (P=0.003, parity (P=0.000, maternal age (P=0.000, age of recovery (P=0.04, cesarean section (P=0.001, prematurity (P=0.000, maternal problems during pregnancy (P=0.000, abnormal physical examinations (P=0.001 in diabetic mother's infants and Bilirubin (P=0.000, length of hospitalization (P=0.003, in infants with unknown jaundice were higher. Conclusion: The infant of diabetic mother are at increased risk of maternal and neonatal complications. Neonatal complications consist of high birth weight, preterm labor, more jaundice and late recovery

Diagnosis of the cancer of unknown primary origin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurisova, S.; Poersoek, S.

2013-01-01

Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) is one of the ten most frequent cancers worldwide. It constitutes of 3-5% of all human malignancies. At time of diagnosis patients with CUP present with disseminated metastases without established primary origin. CUP manifests as heterogenous group of mainly epithelial cancers recognised by distinct clinico pathological entities. The diagnostic work-up includes extensive histopathology investigations and modern imaging technology. Nevertheless, the primary tumour remains undetected most of the time. (author)

Metastatic meningioma presenting as cancer of unknown primary

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Vinay Gupta

2013-12-01

Full Text Available We describe a case of anaplastic meningioma presenting in an extracranial osseous location, initially diagnosed as cancer of unknown primary. Although anaplastic meningioma comprise 3% of all meningiomas, this subtype is more likely to be associated with metastases. The increased degree of dedifferentiation in anaplastic meningioma makes diagnosis difficult, especially if characteristic imaging findings of meningioma are not identified. Adequate tissue for diagnostic purposes and appropriate imaging studies may help in establishing a definitive diagnosis.

Education Through Exploration: Evaluating the Unknown

Science.gov (United States)

Anbar, A. D.

2015-12-01

Mastery of the peculiar and powerful practices of science is increasingly important for the average citizen. With the rise of the Internet, most of human knowledge is at our fingertips. As content becomes a commodity, success and survival aren't about who knows the most, but who is better able to explore the unknown, actively applying and extending knowledge through critical thinking and hypothesis-driven problem-solving. This applies to the economic livelihoods of individuals and to society at large as we grapple with climate change and other science-infused challenges. Unfortunately, science is too often taught as an encyclopedic collection of settled facts to be mastered rather than as a process of exploration that embraces curiosity, inquiry, testing, and communication to reduce uncertainty about the unknown. This problem is exacerbated by the continued prevalence of teacher-centric pedagogy, which promotes learning-from-authority and passive learning. The initial wave of massively open online courses (MOOCs) generally mimic this teaching style in virtual form. It is hypothesized that emerging digital teaching technologies can help address this challenge at Internet scale in "next generation" MOOCs and flipped classroom experiences. Interactive simulations, immersive virtual field trips, gamified elements, rapid adaptive feedback, intelligent tutoring systems, and personalized pathways, should motivate and enhance learning. Through lab-like projects and tutorials, students should be able to construct knowledge from interactive experiences, modeling the authentic practice of science while mastering complex concepts. Freed from lecturing, teaching staff should be available for direct and intense student-teacher interactions. These claims are difficult to evaluate with traditional assessment instruments, but digital technologies provide powerful new ways to evaluate student learning and learn from student behaviors. We will describe ongoing experiences with such

Attention to internal face features in unfamiliar face matching.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Kingsley I; Butavicius, Marcus A; Lee, Michael D

2008-08-01

Accurate matching of unfamiliar faces is vital in security and forensic applications, yet previous research has suggested that humans often perform poorly when matching unfamiliar faces. Hairstyle and facial hair can strongly influence unfamiliar face matching but are potentially unreliable cues. This study investigated whether increased attention to the more stable internal face features of eyes, nose, and mouth was associated with more accurate face-matching performance. Forty-three first-year psychology students decided whether two simultaneously presented faces were of the same person or not. The faces were displayed for either 2 or 6 seconds, and had either similar or dissimilar hairstyles. The level of attention to internal features was measured by the proportion of fixation time spent on the internal face features and the sensitivity of discrimination to changes in external feature similarity. Increased attention to internal features was associated with increased discrimination in the 2-second display-time condition, but no significant relationship was found in the 6-second condition. Individual differences in eye-movements were highly stable across the experimental conditions.

PyEEG: an open source Python module for EEG/MEG feature extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Forrest Sheng; Liu, Xin; Zhang, Christina

2011-01-01

Computer-aided diagnosis of neural diseases from EEG signals (or other physiological signals that can be treated as time series, e.g., MEG) is an emerging field that has gained much attention in past years. Extracting features is a key component in the analysis of EEG signals. In our previous works, we have implemented many EEG feature extraction functions in the Python programming language. As Python is gaining more ground in scientific computing, an open source Python module for extracting EEG features has the potential to save much time for computational neuroscientists. In this paper, we introduce PyEEG, an open source Python module for EEG feature extraction.

Using probabilistic model as feature descriptor on a smartphone device for autonomous navigation of unmanned ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Alok; Lee, Dah-Jye

2013-12-01

There has been significant research on the development of feature descriptors in the past few years. Most of them do not emphasize real-time applications. This paper presents the development of an affine invariant feature descriptor for low resource applications such as UAV and UGV that are equipped with an embedded system with a small microprocessor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a smart phone device. UAV and UGV have proven suitable for many promising applications such as unknown environment exploration, search and rescue operations. These applications required on board image processing for obstacle detection, avoidance and navigation. All these real-time vision applications require a camera to grab images and match features using a feature descriptor. A good feature descriptor will uniquely describe a feature point thus allowing it to be correctly identified and matched with its corresponding feature point in another image. A few feature description algorithms are available for a resource limited system. They either require too much of the device's resource or too much simplification on the algorithm, which results in reduction in performance. This research is aimed at meeting the needs of these systems without sacrificing accuracy. This paper introduces a new feature descriptor called PRObabilistic model (PRO) for UGV navigation applications. It is a compact and efficient binary descriptor that is hardware-friendly and easy for implementation.

Sliding Mode Observer-Based Current Sensor Fault Reconstruction and Unknown Load Disturbance Estimation for PMSM Driven System.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Kaihui; Li, Peng; Zhang, Changfan; Li, Xiangfei; He, Jing; Lin, Yuliang

2017-12-06

This paper proposes a new scheme of reconstructing current sensor faults and estimating unknown load disturbance for a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM)-driven system. First, the original PMSM system is transformed into two subsystems; the first subsystem has unknown system load disturbances, which are unrelated to sensor faults, and the second subsystem has sensor faults, but is free from unknown load disturbances. Introducing a new state variable, the augmented subsystem that has sensor faults can be transformed into having actuator faults. Second, two sliding mode observers (SMOs) are designed: the unknown load disturbance is estimated by the first SMO in the subsystem, which has unknown load disturbance, and the sensor faults can be reconstructed using the second SMO in the augmented subsystem, which has sensor faults. The gains of the proposed SMOs and their stability analysis are developed via the solution of linear matrix inequality (LMI). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme was verified by simulations and experiments. The results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can reconstruct current sensor faults and estimate unknown load disturbance for the PMSM-driven system.

East Chestnut Ridge hydrogeologic characterization: A geophysical study of two karst features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

Permitting and site selection activities for the proposed East Chestnut Ridge landfill, located on the Oak Ridge Reservation, have required additional hydrogeologic studies of two karst features. Geophysical testing methods were utilized for investigating these karst features. The objectives of the geophysical testing was to determine the feasibility of geophysical techniques for locating subsurface karst features and to determine if subsurface anomalies exist at the proposed landfill site. Two karst features, one lacking surface expression (sinkhole) but with a known solution cavity at depth (from previous hydrologic studies), and the other with surface expression were tested with surface geophysical methods. Four geophysical profiles, two crossing and centered over each karst feature were collected using both gravimetric and electrical resistivity techniques

Accounting for unknown foster dams in the genetic evaluation of embryo transfer progeny.

Science.gov (United States)

Suárez, M J; Munilla, S; Cantet, R J C

2015-02-01

Animals born by embryo transfer (ET) are usually not included in the genetic evaluation of beef cattle for preweaning growth if the recipient dam is unknown. This is primarily to avoid potential bias in the estimation of the unknown age of dam. We present a method that allows including records of calves with unknown age of dam. Assumptions are as follows: (i) foster cows belong to the same breed being evaluated, (ii) there is no correlation between the breeding value (BV) of the calf and the maternal BV of the recipient cow, and (iii) cows of all ages are used as recipients. We examine the issue of bias for the fixed level of unknown age of dam (AOD) and propose an estimator of the effect based on classical measurement error theory (MEM) and a Bayesian approach. Using stochastic simulation under random mating or selection, the MEM estimating equations were compared with BLUP in two situations as follows: (i) full information (FI); (ii) missing AOD information on some dams. Predictions of breeding value (PBV) from the FI situation had the smallest empirical average bias followed by PBV obtained without taking measurement error into account. In turn, MEM displayed the highest bias, although the differences were small. On the other hand, MEM showed the smallest MSEP, for either random mating or selection, followed by FI, whereas ignoring measurement error produced the largest MSEP. As a consequence from the smallest MSEP with a relatively small bias, empirical accuracies of PBV were larger for MEM than those for full information, which in turn showed larger accuracies than the situation ignoring measurement error. It is concluded that MEM equations are a useful alternative for analysing weaning weight data when recipient cows are unknown, as it mitigates the effects of bias in AOD by decreasing MSEP. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Measuring Biometric Sample Quality in terms of Biometric Feature Information in Iris Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Youmaran

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper develops an approach to measure the information content in a biometric feature representation of iris images. In this context, the biometric feature information is calculated using the relative entropy between the intraclass and interclass feature distributions. The collected data is regularized using a Gaussian model of the feature covariances in order to practically measure the biometric information with limited data samples. An example of this method is shown for iris templates processed using Principal-Component Analysis- (PCA- and Independent-Component Analysis- (ICA- based feature decomposition schemes. From this, the biometric feature information is calculated to be approximately 278 bits for PCA and 288 bits for ICA iris features using Masek's iris recognition scheme. This value approximately matches previous estimates of iris information content.

Inventory control in case of unknown demand and control parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, E.

2010-01-01

This thesis deals with unknown demand and control parameters in inventory control. Inventory control involves decisions on what to order when and in what quantity. These decisions are based on information about the demand. Models are constructed using complete demand information; these models ensure

Stochastic Online Learning in Dynamic Networks under Unknown Models

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-02

The key is to develop online learning strategies at each individual node. Specifically, through local information exchange with its neighbors, each...infinitely repeated game with incomplete information and developed a dynamic pricing strategy referred to as Competitive and Cooperative Demand Learning...Stochastic Online Learning in Dynamic Networks under Unknown Models This research aims to develop fundamental theories and practical algorithms for

Efficient Topological Localization Using Global and Local Feature Matching

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Junqiu Wang

2013-03-01

Full Text Available We present an efficient vision-based global topological localization approach in which different image features are used in a coarse-to-fine matching framework. Orientation Adjacency Coherence Histogram (OACH, a novel image feature, is proposed to improve the coarse localization. The coarse localization results are taken as inputs for the fine localization which is carried out by matching Harris-Laplace interest points characterized by the SIFT descriptor. The computation of OACHs and interest points is efficient due to the fact that these features are computed in an integrated process. The matching of local features is improved by using approximate nearest neighbor searching technique. We have implemented and tested the localization system in real environments. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach is efficient and reliable in both indoor and outdoor environments. This work has also been compared with previous works. The comparison results show that our approach has better performance with higher correct ratio and lower computational complexity.

Features of MCNP6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goorley, T.; James, M.; Booth, T.; Brown, F.; Bull, J.; Cox, L.J.; Durkee, J.; Elson, J.; Fensin, M.; Forster, R.A.; Hendricks, J.; Hughes, H.G.; Johns, R.; Kiedrowski, B.; Martz, R.; Mashnik, S.; McKinney, G.; Pelowitz, D.; Prael, R.; Sweezy, J.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • MCNP6 is simply and accurately described as the merger of MCNP5 and MCNPX capabilities, but it is much more than the sum of these two computer codes. • MCNP6 is the result of six years of effort by the MCNP5 and MCNPX code development teams. • These groups of people, residing in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s X Computational Physics Division, Monte Carlo Codes Group (XCP-3) and Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation Division, Radiation Transport Modeling Team (NEN-5) respectively, have combined their code development efforts to produce the next evolution of MCNP. • While maintenance and major bug fixes will continue for MCNP5 1.60 and MCNPX 2.7.0 for upcoming years, new code development capabilities only will be developed and released in MCNP6. • In fact, the initial release of MCNP6 contains numerous new features not previously found in either code. • These new features are summarized in this document. • Packaged with MCNP6 is also the new production release of the ENDF/B-VII.1 nuclear data files usable by MCNP. • The high quality of the overall merged code, usefulness of these new features, along with the desire in the user community to start using the merged code, have led us to make the first MCNP6 production release: MCNP6 version 1. • High confidence in the MCNP6 code is based on its performance with the verification and validation test suites, comparisons to its predecessor codes, our automated nightly software debugger tests, the underlying high quality nuclear and atomic databases, and significant testing by many beta testers. - Abstract: MCNP6 can be described as the merger of MCNP5 and MCNPX capabilities, but it is much more than the sum of these two computer codes. MCNP6 is the result of six years of effort by the MCNP5 and MCNPX code development teams. These groups of people, residing in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s X Computational Physics Division, Monte Carlo Codes Group (XCP-3) and Nuclear Engineering and

TOURISM PROMOTION FOR UNKNOWN AREAS IN ROMANIA

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Fotache Lacramioara

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The paper is an effort to unknown areas identity affirmation, through collaborative development of advertising mix, with an emphasis on virtual platforms as admissible solution for increasing visibility. Based upon comparative effective analysis of categories of communication particularities, it is suggested a positioning strategic solution, via virtual advertising platform as unique, integrated, complex and very attractive tourism product promotion, fitted for the internal and international tourism circuit. The active promotion of the specified territorial identity will launch a brand with an impact among tourists by using marketing techniques and innovating technical means and prioritizing tourism as a principal vector of local and regional development.

Adaptive Feature Based Control of Compact Disk Players

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Odgaard, Peter Fogh; Stoustrup, Jakob; Vidal, Enrique Sanchez

2005-01-01

Many have experienced the problem that their Compact Disc players have difficulties playing Compact Discs with surface faults like scratches and fingerprints. The cause of this is due to the two servo control loops used to keep the Optical Pick-up Unit focused and radially on the information track...... of the Compact Disc. The problem is to design servo controllers which are well suited for handling surface faults which disturb the position measurement and still react sufficiently against normal disturbances like mechanical shocks. In previous work of the same authors a feature based control scheme for CD......-players playing CDs with surface fault is derived and described. This feature based control scheme uses precomputed base to remove the surface fault influence from the position measurements. In this paper an adaptive version of the feature based control scheme is proposed and described. This adaptive scheme can...

Fever of Unknown Origin: the Value of FDG-PET/CT

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kouijzer, I.J.E.; Mulders-Manders, C.M.; Bleeker-Rovers, C.P.; Oyen, W.J.G.

2018-01-01

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is commonly defined as fever higher than 38.3 degrees C on several occasions during at least 3 weeks with uncertain diagnosis after a number of obligatory investigations. The differential diagnosis of FUO can be subdivided in four categories: infections, malignancies,

Classification and authentication of unknown water samples using machine learning algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Kundu, Palash K; Panchariya, P C; Kundu, Madhusree

2011-07-01

This paper proposes the development of water sample classification and authentication, in real life which is based on machine learning algorithms. The proposed techniques used experimental measurements from a pulse voltametry method which is based on an electronic tongue (E-tongue) instrumentation system with silver and platinum electrodes. E-tongue include arrays of solid state ion sensors, transducers even of different types, data collectors and data analysis tools, all oriented to the classification of liquid samples and authentication of unknown liquid samples. The time series signal and the corresponding raw data represent the measurement from a multi-sensor system. The E-tongue system, implemented in a laboratory environment for 6 numbers of different ISI (Bureau of Indian standard) certified water samples (Aquafina, Bisleri, Kingfisher, Oasis, Dolphin, and McDowell) was the data source for developing two types of machine learning algorithms like classification and regression. A water data set consisting of 6 numbers of sample classes containing 4402 numbers of features were considered. A PCA (principal component analysis) based classification and authentication tool was developed in this study as the machine learning component of the E-tongue system. A proposed partial least squares (PLS) based classifier, which was dedicated as well; to authenticate a specific category of water sample evolved out as an integral part of the E-tongue instrumentation system. The developed PCA and PLS based E-tongue system emancipated an overall encouraging authentication percentage accuracy with their excellent performances for the aforesaid categories of water samples. Copyright © 2011 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parameter identification of chaos system based on unknown parameter observer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Shaoming; Luo Haigeng; Yue Chaoyuan; Liao Xiaoxin

2008-01-01

Parameter identification of chaos system based on unknown parameter observer is discussed generally. Based on the work of Guan et al. [X.P. Guan, H.P. Peng, L.X. Li, et al., Acta Phys. Sinica 50 (2001) 26], the design of unknown parameter observer is improved. The application of the improved approach is extended greatly. The works in some literatures [X.P. Guan, H.P. Peng, L.X. Li, et al., Acta Phys. Sinica 50 (2001) 26; J.H. Lue, S.C. Zhang, Phys. Lett. A 286 (2001) 148; X.Q. Wu, J.A. Lu, Chaos Solitons Fractals 18 (2003) 721; J. Liu, S.H. Chen, J. Xie, Chaos Solitons Fractals 19 (2004) 533] are only the special cases of our Corollaries 1 and 2. Some observers for Lue system and a new chaos system are designed to test our improved method, and simulations results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the improved approach

Comparison of various structural damage tracking techniques with unknown excitations based on experimental data

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Hongwei; Yang, Jann N.; Zhou, Li

2009-03-01

An early detection of structural damages is critical for the decision making of repair and replacement maintenance in order to guarantee a specified structural reliability. Consequently, the structural damage detection, based on vibration data measured from the structural health monitoring (SHM) system, has received considerable attention recently. The traditional time-domain analysis techniques, such as the least square estimation (LSE) method and the extended Kalman filter (EKF) approach, require that all the external excitations (inputs) be available, which may not be the case for some SHM systems. Recently, these two approaches have been extended to cover the general case where some of the external excitations (inputs) are not measured, referred to as the LSE with unknown inputs (LSE-UI) and the EKF with unknown inputs (EKF-UI). Also, new analysis methods, referred to as the sequential non-linear least-square estimation with unknown inputs and unknown outputs (SNLSE-UI-UO) and the quadratic sum-square error with unknown inputs (QSSE-UI), have been proposed for the damage tracking of structures when some of the acceleration responses are not measured and the external excitations are not available. In this paper, these newly proposed analysis methods will be compared in terms of accuracy, convergence and efficiency, for damage identification of structures based on experimental data obtained through a series of experimental tests using a small-scale 3-story building model with white noise excitation. The capability of the LSE-UI, EKF-UI, SNLSE-UI-UO and QSSE-UI approaches in tracking the structural damages will be demonstrated.

Role of Importance and Distinctiveness of Semantic Features in People with Aphasia: A Replication Study

Science.gov (United States)

Mason-Baughman, Mary Beth; Wallace, Sarah E.

2014-01-01

Previous studies suggest that people with aphasia have incomplete lexical-semantic representations with decreased low-importance distinctive (LID) feature knowledge. In addition, decreased LID feature knowledge correlates with ability to discriminate among semantically related words. The current study seeks to replicate and extend previous…

Locating previously unknown patterns in data-mining results: a dual data- and knowledge-mining method

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Knaus William A

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Data mining can be utilized to automate analysis of substantial amounts of data produced in many organizations. However, data mining produces large numbers of rules and patterns, many of which are not useful. Existing methods for pruning uninteresting patterns have only begun to automate the knowledge acquisition step (which is required for subjective measures of interestingness, hence leaving a serious bottleneck. In this paper we propose a method for automatically acquiring knowledge to shorten the pattern list by locating the novel and interesting ones. Methods The dual-mining method is based on automatically comparing the strength of patterns mined from a database with the strength of equivalent patterns mined from a relevant knowledgebase. When these two estimates of pattern strength do not match, a high "surprise score" is assigned to the pattern, identifying the pattern as potentially interesting. The surprise score captures the degree of novelty or interestingness of the mined pattern. In addition, we show how to compute p values for each surprise score, thus filtering out noise and attaching statistical significance. Results We have implemented the dual-mining method using scripts written in Perl and R. We applied the method to a large patient database and a biomedical literature citation knowledgebase. The system estimated association scores for 50,000 patterns, composed of disease entities and lab results, by querying the database and the knowledgebase. It then computed the surprise scores by comparing the pairs of association scores. Finally, the system estimated statistical significance of the scores. Conclusion The dual-mining method eliminates more than 90% of patterns with strong associations, thus identifying them as uninteresting. We found that the pruning of patterns using the surprise score matched the biomedical evidence in the 100 cases that were examined by hand. The method automates the acquisition of knowledge, thus reducing dependence on the knowledge elicited from human expert, which is usually a rate-limiting step.

TBX1 mutation identified by exome sequencing in a Japanese family with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome-like craniofacial features and hypocalcemia.

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Tsutomu Ogata

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although TBX1 mutations have been identified in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS-like phenotypes including characteristic craniofacial features, cardiovascular anomalies, hypoparathyroidism, and thymic hypoplasia, the frequency of TBX1 mutations remains rare in deletion-negative patients. Thus, it would be reasonable to perform a comprehensive genetic analysis in deletion-negative patients with 22q11.2DS-like phenotypes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied three subjects with craniofacial features and hypocalcemia (group 1, two subjects with craniofacial features alone (group 2, and three subjects with normal phenotype within a single Japanese family. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis excluded chromosome 22q11.2 deletion, and genomewide array comparative genomic hybridization analysis revealed no copy number change specific to group 1 or groups 1+2. However, exome sequencing identified a heterozygous TBX1 frameshift mutation (c.1253delA, p.Y418fsX459 specific to groups 1+2, as well as six missense variants and two in-frame microdeletions specific to groups 1+2 and two missense variants specific to group 1. The TBX1 mutation resided at exon 9C and was predicted to produce a non-functional truncated protein missing the nuclear localization signal and most of the transactivation domain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Clinical features in groups 1+2 are well explained by the TBX1 mutation, while the clinical effects of the remaining variants are largely unknown. Thus, the results exemplify the usefulness of exome sequencing in the identification of disease-causing mutations in familial disorders. Furthermore, the results, in conjunction with the previous data, imply that TBX1 isoform C is the biologically essential variant and that TBX1 mutations are associated with a wide phenotypic spectrum, including most of 22q11.2DS phenotypes.

<<Unknown>> earthquakes: a growing contribution to the Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes

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E. Guidoboni

2000-06-01

Full Text Available The particular structure of the research into historical seismology found in this catalogue has allowed a lot of information about unknown seismic events to be traced. This new contribution to seismologic knowledge mainly consists in: i the retrieval and organisation within a coherent framework of documentary evidence of earthquakes that took place between the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century; ii the improved knowledge of seismic events, even destructive events, which in the past had been "obscured" by large earthquakes; iii the identification of earthquakes in "silent" seismic areas. The complex elements to be taken into account when dealing with unknown seismic events have been outlined; much "new" information often falls into one of the following categories: simple chronological errors relative to other well-known events; descriptions of other natural phenomena, though defined in texts as "earthquakes" (landslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.; unknown tremors belonging to known seismic periods; tremors that may be connected with events which have been catalogued under incorrect dates and with very approximate estimates of location and intensity. This proves that this was not a real seismic "silence" but a research vacuum.

Compensating Unknown Time-Varying Delay in Opto-Electronic Platform Tracking Servo System

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Ruihong Xie

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the problem of compensating miss-distance delay in opto-electronic platform tracking servo system. According to the characteristic of LOS (light-of-sight motion, we setup the Markovian process model and compensate this unknown time-varying delay by feed-forward forecasting controller based on robust H∞ control. Finally, simulation based on double closed-loop PI (Proportion Integration control system indicates that the proposed method is effective for compensating unknown time-varying delay. Tracking experiments on the opto-electronic platform indicate that RMS (root-mean-square error is 1.253 mrad when tracking 10° 0.2 Hz signal.

Fault tolerant control of wind turbines using unknown input observers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Odgaard, Peter Fogh; Stoustrup, Jakob

2012-01-01

This paper presents a scheme for accommodating faults in the rotor and generator speed sensors in a wind turbine. These measured values are important both for the wind turbine controller as well as the supervisory control of the wind turbine. The scheme is based on unknown input observers, which...

Solving differential equations with unknown constitutive relations as recurrent neural networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hagge, Tobias J.; Stinis, Panagiotis; Yeung, Enoch H.; Tartakovsky, Alexandre M.

2017-12-08

We solve a system of ordinary differential equations with an unknown functional form of a sink (reaction rate) term. We assume that the measurements (time series) of state variables are partially available, and use a recurrent neural network to “learn” the reaction rate from this data. This is achieved by including discretized ordinary differential equations as part of a recurrent neural network training problem. We extend TensorFlow’s recurrent neural network architecture to create a simple but scalable and effective solver for the unknown functions, and apply it to a fedbatch bioreactor simulation problem. Use of techniques from recent deep learning literature enables training of functions with behavior manifesting over thousands of time steps. Our networks are structurally similar to recurrent neural networks, but differ in purpose, and require modified training strategies.

Modeling of load lifting process with unknown center of gravity position

Science.gov (United States)

Kamanin, Y. N.; Zhukov, M. I.; Panichkin, A. V.; Redelin, R. A.

2018-03-01

The article proposes a new type of lifting beams that allows one to lift loads where the position of the center of gravity is unknown beforehand. The benefit of implementing this type of traverse is confirmed by the high demand for this product from the industrial enterprises and lack of their availability on the market. In conducted studies, the main kinematic and dynamic dependencies of the load lifting process with an unknown position of the center of gravity were described allowing for design and verification calculations of the traverse with flexible slings and an adjustable bail to be carried out. The obtained results can be useful to engineers and employees of enterprises engaged in the design and manufacturing of the lifting equipment and scientists doing research in “Carrying and lifting machines”.

Pleasant/Unpleasant Filtering for Affective Image Retrieval Based on Cross-Correlation of EEG Features

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Keranmu Xielifuguli

2014-01-01

Full Text Available People often make decisions based on sensitivity rather than rationality. In the field of biological information processing, methods are available for analyzing biological information directly based on electroencephalogram: EEG to determine the pleasant/unpleasant reactions of users. In this study, we propose a sensitivity filtering technique for discriminating preferences (pleasant/unpleasant for images using a sensitivity image filtering system based on EEG. Using a set of images retrieved by similarity retrieval, we perform the sensitivity-based pleasant/unpleasant classification of images based on the affective features extracted from images with the maximum entropy method: MEM. In the present study, the affective features comprised cross-correlation features obtained from EEGs produced when an individual observed an image. However, it is difficult to measure the EEG when a subject visualizes an unknown image. Thus, we propose a solution where a linear regression method based on canonical correlation is used to estimate the cross-correlation features from image features. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the validity of sensitivity filtering compared with image similarity retrieval methods based on image features. We found that sensitivity filtering using color correlograms was suitable for the classification of preferred images, while sensitivity filtering using local binary patterns was suitable for the classification of unpleasant images. Moreover, sensitivity filtering using local binary patterns for unpleasant images had a 90% success rate. Thus, we conclude that the proposed method is efficient for filtering unpleasant images.

MindDigger: Feature Identification and Opinion Association for Chinese Movie Reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Lili; Li, Chunping

In this paper, we present a prototype system called MindDigger, which can be used to analyze the opinions in Chinese movie reviews. Different from previous research that employed techniques on product reviews, we focus on Chinese movie reviews, in which opinions are expressed in subtle and varied ways. The system designed in this work aims to extract the opinion expressions and assign them to the corresponding features. The core tasks include feature and opinion extraction, and feature-opinion association. To deal with Chinese effectively, several novel approaches based on syntactic analysis are proposed in this paper. Running results show the performance is satisfactory.

Stability of Nonlinear Systems with Unknown Time-varying Feedback Delay

Science.gov (United States)

Chunodkar, Apurva A.; Akella, Maruthi R.

2013-12-01

This paper considers the problem of stabilizing a class of nonlinear systems with unknown bounded delayed feedback wherein the time-varying delay is 1) piecewise constant 2) continuous with a bounded rate. We also consider application of these results to the stabilization of rigid-body attitude dynamics. In the first case, the time-delay in feedback is modeled specifically as a switch among an arbitrarily large set of unknown constant values with a known strict upper bound. The feedback is a linear function of the delayed states. In the case of linear systems with switched delay feedback, a new sufficiency condition for average dwell time result is presented using a complete type Lyapunov-Krasovskii (L-K) functional approach. Further, the corresponding switched system with nonlinear perturbations is proven to be exponentially stable inside a well characterized region of attraction for an appropriately chosen average dwell time. In the second case, the concept of the complete type L-K functional is extended to a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with unknown time-varying time-delay. This extension ensures stability robustness to time-delay in the control design for all values of time-delay less than the known upper bound. Model-transformation is used in order to partition the nonlinear system into a nominal linear part that is exponentially stable with a bounded perturbation. We obtain sufficient conditions which ensure exponential stability inside a region of attraction estimate. A constructive method to evaluate the sufficient conditions is presented together with comparison with the corresponding constant and piecewise constant delay. Numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the theoretical results of this paper.

Comparing experts and novices in Martian surface feature change detection and identification

Science.gov (United States)

Wardlaw, Jessica; Sprinks, James; Houghton, Robert; Muller, Jan-Peter; Sidiropoulos, Panagiotis; Bamford, Steven; Marsh, Stuart

2018-02-01

Change detection in satellite images is a key concern of the Earth Observation field for environmental and climate change monitoring. Satellite images also provide important clues to both the past and present surface conditions of other planets, which cannot be validated on the ground. With the volume of satellite imagery continuing to grow, the inadequacy of computerised solutions to manage and process imagery to the required professional standard is of critical concern. Whilst studies find the crowd sourcing approach suitable for the counting of impact craters in single images, images of higher resolution contain a much wider range of features, and the performance of novices in identifying more complex features and detecting change, remains unknown. This paper presents a first step towards understanding whether novices can identify and annotate changes in different geomorphological features. A website was developed to enable visitors to flick between two images of the same location on Mars taken at different times and classify 1) if a surface feature changed and if so, 2) what feature had changed from a pre-defined list of six. Planetary scientists provided ;expert; data against which classifications made by novices could be compared when the project subsequently went public. Whilst no significant difference was found in images identified with surface changes by expert and novices, results exhibited differences in consensus within and between experts and novices when asked to classify the type of change. Experts demonstrated higher levels of agreement in classification of changes as dust devil tracks, slope streaks and impact craters than other features, whilst the consensus of novices was consistent across feature types; furthermore, the level of consensus amongst regardless of feature type. These trends are secondary to the low levels of consensus found, regardless of feature type or classifier expertise. These findings demand the attention of researchers who

Previously unclassified bacteria dominate during thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic pre-treatment of primary sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Pervin, Hasina M; Batstone, Damien J; Bond, Philip L

2013-06-01

Thermophilic biological pre-treatment enables enhanced anaerobic digestion for treatment of wastewater sludges but, at present, there is limited understanding of the hydrolytic-acidogenic microbial composition and its contribution to this process. In this study, the process was assessed by comparing the microbiology of thermophilic (50-65 °C) and mesophilic (35 °C) pre-treatment reactors treating primary sludge. A full-cycle approach for the 16S rRNA genes was applied in order to monitor the diversity of bacteria and their abundance in a thermophilic pre-treatment reactor treating primary sludge. For the thermophilic pre-treatment (TP), over 90% of the sequences were previously undetected and these had less than 97% sequence similarity to cultured organisms. During the first 83 days, members of the Betaproteobacteria dominated the community sequences and a newly designed probe was used to monitor a previously unknown bacterium affiliated with the genus Brachymonas. Between days 85 and 183, three phylotypes that affiliated with the genera Comamonas, Clostridium and Lysobacter were persistently dominant in the TP community, as revealed by terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Hydrolytic and fermentative functions have been speculated for these bacteria. Mesophilic pre-treatment (MP) and TP communities were different but they were both relatively dynamic. Statistical correlation analysis and the function of closely allied reference organisms indicated that previously unclassified bacteria dominated the TP community and may have been functionally involved in the enhanced hydrolytic performance of thermophilic anaerobic pre-treatment. This study is the first to reveal the diversity and dynamics of bacteria during anaerobic digestion of primary sludge. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Clinicopathological correlates of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Selvarajah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu is a major healthcare issue in Sri Lanka. This study included 125 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of CKDu undergoing renal biopsy at one hospital from 2008 to 2012. Associations between renal outcome parameters, epidemiological data, and histopathological findings were examined and regression models constructed based on univariate associations with outcome variables as serum creatinine >1.2 and stage of CKD >3. The mean patient age was 46.21 years (standard deviation = 11.64. A marked male predominance was noted. A positive family history of CKD was seen in 35.8%. Prominent histopathological features were glomerular sclerosis (94.8%, interstitial infiltration (76% with lymphocytic infiltration, interstitial fibrosis (71.2%, and tubular atrophy (70.4%. Importantly, significant histological changes were seen in patients with early CKDu. For CKD stage >3 independent associations were: interstitial fibrosis [P = 0.005; odds ratio (OR =0.153] and interstitial infiltrate (P = 0.030; OR = 0.2440. For serum creatinine >1.2, independent predictors were >50% glomerular sclerosis (P = 0.041; OR = 0.92, tubular atrophy (P = 0.034; OR = 0.171, and more than 40 residential life years (P = 0.009; OR = 9.229. Chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN appears to be the predominant histopathological finding in patients with CKDu, with significant renal pathology established early on in the course of the disease. Interstitial infiltration appears to be an independent association of advancing CKD, CKDu, histopathology, histology, and TIN.

Clinicopathological correlates of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Selvarajah, M; Weeratunga, P; Sivayoganthan, S; Rathnatunga, N; Rajapakse, S

2016-09-01

Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is a major healthcare issue in Sri Lanka. This study included 125 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of CKDu undergoing renal biopsy at one hospital from 2008 to 2012. Associations between renal outcome parameters, epidemiological data, and histopathological findings were examined and regression models constructed based on univariate associations with outcome variables as serum creatinine >1.2 and stage of CKD >3. The mean patient age was 46.21 years (standard deviation = 11.64). A marked male predominance was noted. A positive family history of CKD was seen in 35.8%. Prominent histopathological features were glomerular sclerosis (94.8%), interstitial infiltration (76%) with lymphocytic infiltration, interstitial fibrosis (71.2%), and tubular atrophy (70.4%). Importantly, significant histological changes were seen in patients with early CKDu. For CKD stage >3 independent associations were: interstitial fibrosis [P = 0.005; odds ratio (OR) =0.153] and interstitial infiltrate ( P = 0.030; OR = 0.2440. For serum creatinine >1.2, independent predictors were >50% glomerular sclerosis ( P = 0.041; OR = 0.92), tubular atrophy ( P = 0.034; OR = 0.171, and more than 40 residential life years ( P = 0.009; OR = 9.229). Chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) appears to be the predominant histopathological finding in patients with CKDu, with significant renal pathology established early on in the course of the disease. Interstitial infiltration appears to be an independent association of advancing CKD, CKDu, histopathology, histology, and TIN.

Prostate cancer detection: Fusion of cytological and textural features.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Kien; Jain, Anil K; Sabata, Bikash

2011-01-01

A computer-assisted system for histological prostate cancer diagnosis can assist pathologists in two stages: (i) to locate cancer regions in a large digitized tissue biopsy, and (ii) to assign Gleason grades to the regions detected in stage 1. Most previous studies on this topic have primarily addressed the second stage by classifying the preselected tissue regions. In this paper, we address the first stage by presenting a cancer detection approach for the whole slide tissue image. We propose a novel method to extract a cytological feature, namely the presence of cancer nuclei (nuclei with prominent nucleoli) in the tissue, and apply this feature to detect the cancer regions. Additionally, conventional image texture features which have been widely used in the literature are also considered. The performance comparison among the proposed cytological textural feature combination method, the texture-based method and the cytological feature-based method demonstrates the robustness of the extracted cytological feature. At a false positive rate of 6%, the proposed method is able to achieve a sensitivity of 78% on a dataset including six training images (each of which has approximately 4,000×7,000 pixels) and 1 1 whole-slide test images (each of which has approximately 5,000×23,000 pixels). All images are at 20X magnification.

Eddy current analysis by BEM utilizing loop electric and surface magnetic currents as unknowns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishibashi, Kazuhisa

2002-01-01

The surface integral equations whose unknowns are the surface electric and magnetic currents are widely used in eddy current analysis. However, when the skin depth is thick, computational error is increased especially in obtaining electromagnetic fields near the edge of the conductor. In order to obtain the electromagnetic field accurately, we propose an approach to solve surface integral equations utilizing loop electric and surface magnetic currents as unknowns. (Author)

Approximate Teleportation of an Unknown Atomic-Entangled State with Dissipative Atom-Cavity Resonant Jaynes-Cummings Model

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Zong-Liang; LI Shao-Hua; CHEN Chang-Yong

2008-01-01

We propose a scheme for approximately and conditionally teleporting an unknown atomic-entangled state in dissipative cavity QED.It is the further development of the scheme of [Phys.Rev.A 69 (2004) 064302],where the cavity mode decay has not been considered and the state teleportated is an unknown atomic state.In this paper,we investigate the influence of the decay on the approximate and conditional teleportation of the unknown atomic-entangled state,which is different from that teleportated in [Phys.Rev.A 69 (2004) 064302] and then give the fidelity of the teleportation,which depends on the cavity mode decay.The scheme may be generalized to not only the teleportation of the cavity-mode-entangled-state by means of a single atom but also the teleportation of the unknown trapped-ion-entangled-state in a linear ion trap.

Multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Junlei Zhang; Dianguang Gai; Xin Zhang; Xuemei Li

2017-01-01

Example-based super-resolution algorithms,which predict unknown high-resolution image information using a relationship model learnt from known high- and low-resolution image pairs, have attracted considerable interest in the field of image processing. In this paper, we propose a multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution. Firstly, we take advantage of a feature-constrained polynomial interpolation method to enlarge the low-resolution image. Next, we consider low-frequency images of different resolutions to provide an example pair. Then, we use adaptive k NN search to find similar patches in the low-resolution image for every image patch in the high-resolution low-frequency image, leading to a regression model between similar patches to be learnt. The learnt model is applied to the low-resolution high-frequency image to produce high-resolution high-frequency information. An iterative back-projection algorithm is used as the final step to determine the final high-resolution image.Experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the visual quality of the high-resolution image.

CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 in Papua New Guinea: High frequency of previously uncharacterized CYP2D6 alleles and heterozygote excess.

Science.gov (United States)

von Ahsen, Nicolas; Tzvetkov, Mladen; Karunajeewa, Harin A; Gomorrai, Servina; Ura, Alice; Brockmöller, Jürgen; Davis, Timothy M E; Mueller, Ivo; Ilett, Kenneth F; Oellerich, Michael

2010-08-18

A high frequency of previously unknown CYP2D6 alleles have been reported in Oceania populations. Genetic and functional properties of these alleles remain unknown. We performed analyses of the genetic variability of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genes using AmpliChip genotyping in cohorts from two distinct Papua New Guinea (PNG) populations (Kunjingini, n=88; Alexishafen, n=84) focussing on the genetic characterisation of PNG-specific alleles by re-sequencing. Previously unknown CYP2D6 alleles have population frequencies of 24% (Kunjingini) and 12% (Alexishafen). An allele similar to CYP2D6*1, but carrying the 1661G>C substitution, was the second most frequent CYP2D6 allele (20% Kunjingini and 10% Alexishafen population frequency). Sequencing suggests the CYP2D6* 1661G>C allele originated from a cross-over between CYP2D6*1 and *2 and thus is predicted to confer fully active CYP2D6 enzyme. Two additional predicted full activity alleles [1661G>C;4180G>C] and 31G>A were found in the Kunjingini cohort (frequencies 3 c/c and 1%, respectively) and a novel predicted reduced activity allele [100C>T;1039C>T] was found in the Alexishafen cohort (frequency 2%). A high frequency of ultra-rapid (15%) and notably low frequencies of intermediate and poor CYP2D6 metabolizers (exogamy and recent introduction of alleles by migration that are yet to reach HWE in relatively isolated populations. The CYP2D6*1661 allele common in Oceania may be regarded as functionally equivalent to the full activity CYP2D6*1 allele.

Non-binding relationship between visual features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan eRangelov

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The answer as to how visual attributes processed in different brain loci at different speeds are bound together to give us our unitary experience of the visual world remains unknown. In this study we investigated whether bound representations arise, as commonly assumed, through physiological interactions between cells in the visual areas. In a focal attentional task in which correct responses from either bound or unbound representations were possible, participants discriminated the colour or orientation of briefly presented single bars. On the assumption that representations of the two attributes are bound, the accuracy of reporting the colour and orientation should co-vary. By contrast, if the attributes are not mandatorily bound, the accuracy of reporting the two attributes should be independent. The results of our psychophysical studies reported here supported the latter, non-binding, relationship between visual features, suggesting that binding does not necessarily occur even under focal attention. We propose a task-contingent binding mechanism, postulating that binding occurs at late, post-perceptual, stages through the intervention of memory.

Inverse identification of unknown finite-duration air pollutant release from a point source in urban environment

Science.gov (United States)

Kovalets, Ivan V.; Efthimiou, George C.; Andronopoulos, Spyros; Venetsanos, Alexander G.; Argyropoulos, Christos D.; Kakosimos, Konstantinos E.

2018-05-01

In this work, we present an inverse computational method for the identification of the location, start time, duration and quantity of emitted substance of an unknown air pollution source of finite time duration in an urban environment. We considered a problem of transient pollutant dispersion under stationary meteorological fields, which is a reasonable assumption for the assimilation of available concentration measurements within 1 h from the start of an incident. We optimized the calculation of the source-receptor function by developing a method which requires integrating as many backward adjoint equations as the available measurement stations. This resulted in high numerical efficiency of the method. The source parameters are computed by maximizing the correlation function of the simulated and observed concentrations. The method has been integrated into the CFD code ADREA-HF and it has been tested successfully by performing a series of source inversion runs using the data of 200 individual realizations of puff releases, previously generated in a wind tunnel experiment.

Feature generation and representations for protein-protein interaction classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Man; Tan, Chew Lim; Su, Jian

2009-10-01

Automatic detecting protein-protein interaction (PPI) relevant articles is a crucial step for large-scale biological database curation. The previous work adopted POS tagging, shallow parsing and sentence splitting techniques, but they achieved worse performance than the simple bag-of-words representation. In this paper, we generated and investigated multiple types of feature representations in order to further improve the performance of PPI text classification task. Besides the traditional domain-independent bag-of-words approach and the term weighting methods, we also explored other domain-dependent features, i.e. protein-protein interaction trigger keywords, protein named entities and the advanced ways of incorporating Natural Language Processing (NLP) output. The integration of these multiple features has been evaluated on the BioCreAtIvE II corpus. The experimental results showed that both the advanced way of using NLP output and the integration of bag-of-words and NLP output improved the performance of text classification. Specifically, in comparison with the best performance achieved in the BioCreAtIvE II IAS, the feature-level and classifier-level integration of multiple features improved the performance of classification 2.71% and 3.95%, respectively.

Searching for unknown transfusion-transmitted hepatitis viruses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edgren, G.; Hjalgrim, H.; Rostgaard, K.

2018-01-01

Background: Both hepatitis B and C viruses were transmitted through blood transfusion before implementation of donor screening. The existence of additional, yet unknown transfusion transmittable agents causing liver disease could have important public health implications. Methods: Analyses were...... 1992 to account for the effect of screening for hepatitis C virus. Results: A total of 1 482 922 transfused patients were included in the analyses. Analyses showed evidence of transfusion transmission of liver diseases before, but not after the implementation of hepatitis C virus screening in 1992...... for transfusion transmission of agents causing liver disease after the implementation of screening for hepatitis B and C, and suggest that if such transmission does occur, it is rare....

Word-level recognition of multifont Arabic text using a feature vector matching approach

Science.gov (United States)

Erlandson, Erik J.; Trenkle, John M.; Vogt, Robert C., III

1996-03-01

Many text recognition systems recognize text imagery at the character level and assemble words from the recognized characters. An alternative approach is to recognize text imagery at the word level, without analyzing individual characters. This approach avoids the problem of individual character segmentation, and can overcome local errors in character recognition. A word-level recognition system for machine-printed Arabic text has been implemented. Arabic is a script language, and is therefore difficult to segment at the character level. Character segmentation has been avoided by recognizing text imagery of complete words. The Arabic recognition system computes a vector of image-morphological features on a query word image. This vector is matched against a precomputed database of vectors from a lexicon of Arabic words. Vectors from the database with the highest match score are returned as hypotheses for the unknown image. Several feature vectors may be stored for each word in the database. Database feature vectors generated using multiple fonts and noise models allow the system to be tuned to its input stream. Used in conjunction with database pruning techniques, this Arabic recognition system has obtained promising word recognition rates on low-quality multifont text imagery.

Neurological features of epilepsy, ataxia, sensorineural deafness, tubulopathy syndrome.

OpenAIRE

Cross, J. H.; Arora, R.; Heckemann, R. A.; Gunny, R.; Chong, K.; Carr, L.; Baldeweg, T.; Differ, A. M.; Lench, N.; Varadkar, S.; Sirimanna, T.; Wassmer, E.; Hulton, S. A.; Ognjanovic, M.; Ramesh, V.

2013-01-01

Recently, we reported a previously unrecognized symptom constellation comprising epilepsy, ataxia, sensorineural deafness, and tubulopathy (EAST syndrome) associated with recessive mutations in the KCNJ10 gene. Here, we provide a detailed characterization of the clinical features of the syndrome to aid patient management with respect to diagnosis, prognostic counselling, and identification of best treatment modalities.

Can pluralistic approaches based upon unknown languages enhance learner engagement and lead to active social inclusion?

Science.gov (United States)

Dahm, Rebecca

2017-08-01

One way to foster active social inclusion is to enable students to develop a positive attitude to "foreignness". Creating a situation where mainstream students are less wary of foreign languages and cultures, and where newcomers feel their linguistic background is being valued, provides favourable conditions for the inclusion of these newcomers in the classroom and in society. However, language classrooms in French schools rarely take any previously acquired linguistic knowledge into account, thus unconsciously contributing to the rift between multilingual learners (e.g. 1st- and 2nd-generation immigrant children, refugees, children of parents with different mother tongues) and French learners. Native French learners' first experience of learning another language is usually when English is added as a subject to their curriculum in primary school. In some schools in France, English lessons now include the simulation of multilingual situations, designed in particular for the French "quasi-monolingual" students to lose their fear of unknown languages and "foreignness" in general. But the overall aim is to help both groups of learners become aware of the positive impact of multilingualism on cognitive abilities. However, to achieve long-term effects, this awareness-raising needs to be accompanied by maximum engagement on the part of the students. This article explores an instructional strategy termed Pluralistic Approaches based upon Unknown Languages (PAUL), which was designed to develop learning strategies of quasi-monolingual students in particular and to increase learner engagement more generally. The results of a small-scale PAUL study discussed by the author seem to confirm an increase in learner engagement leading to an enhancement of learning outcomes. Moreover, PAUL seems indeed suitable for helping to prepare the ground for social inclusion.

A Size Exclusion Chromatography Laboratory with Unknowns for Introductory Students

Science.gov (United States)

McIntee, Edward J.; Graham, Kate J.; Colosky, Edward C.; Jakubowski, Henry V.

2015-01-01

Size exclusion chromatography is an important technique in the separation of biological and polymeric samples by molecular weight. While a number of laboratory experiments have been published that use this technique for the purification of large molecules, this is the first report of an experiment that focuses on purifying an unknown small…

Different cortical mechanisms for spatial vs. feature-based attentional selection in visual working memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Heuer

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The limited capacity of visual working memory necessitates attentional mechanisms that selectively update and maintain only the most task-relevant content. Psychophysical experiments have shown that the retroactive selection of memory content can be based on visual properties such as location or shape, but the neural basis for such differential selection is unknown. For example, it is not known if there are different cortical modules specialized for spatial versus feature-based mnemonic attention, in the same way that has been demonstrated for attention to perceptual input. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS to identify areas in human parietal and occipital cortex involved in the selection of objects from memory based on cues to their location (spatial information or their shape (featural information. We found that TMS over the supramarginal gyrus (SMG selectively facilitated spatial selection, whereas TMS over the lateral occipital cortex selectively enhanced feature-based selection for remembered objects in the contralateral visual field. Thus, different cortical regions are responsible for spatial vs. feature-based selection of working memory representations. Since the same regions are involved in attention to external events, these new findings indicate overlapping mechanisms for attentional control over perceptual input and mnemonic representations.

A prototype feature system for feature retrieval using relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, J.; Usery, E.L.

2009-01-01

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

Clinical Features of Fatal Asthma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiung-Zuei Chen

2006-05-01

Full Text Available To characterize the clinical features of fatal asthma, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients who died of an acute asthma attack in our hospital during a 15-year period from 1989 to 2003. Twelve patients had fatal asthma during this period, including eight who were dead on arrival in the emergency room (ER and three who died within 1 hour of admission to the ER. Patients were categorized into three groups according to the clinical presentations during the fatal attack: (1 rapid (< 3 hours decompensation in four patients; (2 gradual development of respiratory failure over several days in two patients; and (3 acute deterioration after unstable asthma lasting several days in six patients. All patients in groups 1 and 2 had reported previous near-fatal attacks. The proportion of young patients was highest in group 3, with half of them (3/6 younger than 35 years of age. Only one patient in group 3 had had a previous near-fatal attack. Five of the seven patients, with previous near-fatal attacks, had a pattern of decompensation during their fatal attack that was similar to their previous attacks. In conclusion, nearly all patients with fatal asthma in this study died outside of the hospital or within 1 hour after admission to the ER. Patients had patterns of decompensation during the fatal attack that were similar to those of their previous attacks. Early detection of warning signs, early admission to the ER, adequate treatment, and extremely close observation of patients, especially within 1 hour after ER arrival, may prevent or decrease the incidence of fatal asthmatic attack.

Combining Deep and Handcrafted Image Features for Presentation Attack Detection in Face Recognition Systems Using Visible-Light Camera Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dat Tien Nguyen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Although face recognition systems have wide application, they are vulnerable to presentation attack samples (fake samples. Therefore, a presentation attack detection (PAD method is required to enhance the security level of face recognition systems. Most of the previously proposed PAD methods for face recognition systems have focused on using handcrafted image features, which are designed by expert knowledge of designers, such as Gabor filter, local binary pattern (LBP, local ternary pattern (LTP, and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG. As a result, the extracted features reflect limited aspects of the problem, yielding a detection accuracy that is low and varies with the characteristics of presentation attack face images. The deep learning method has been developed in the computer vision research community, which is proven to be suitable for automatically training a feature extractor that can be used to enhance the ability of handcrafted features. To overcome the limitations of previously proposed PAD methods, we propose a new PAD method that uses a combination of deep and handcrafted features extracted from the images by visible-light camera sensor. Our proposed method uses the convolutional neural network (CNN method to extract deep image features and the multi-level local binary pattern (MLBP method to extract skin detail features from face images to discriminate the real and presentation attack face images. By combining the two types of image features, we form a new type of image features, called hybrid features, which has stronger discrimination ability than single image features. Finally, we use the support vector machine (SVM method to classify the image features into real or presentation attack class. Our experimental results indicate that our proposed method outperforms previous PAD methods by yielding the smallest error rates on the same image databases.

Combining Deep and Handcrafted Image Features for Presentation Attack Detection in Face Recognition Systems Using Visible-Light Camera Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Baek, Na Rae; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-02-26

Although face recognition systems have wide application, they are vulnerable to presentation attack samples (fake samples). Therefore, a presentation attack detection (PAD) method is required to enhance the security level of face recognition systems. Most of the previously proposed PAD methods for face recognition systems have focused on using handcrafted image features, which are designed by expert knowledge of designers, such as Gabor filter, local binary pattern (LBP), local ternary pattern (LTP), and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG). As a result, the extracted features reflect limited aspects of the problem, yielding a detection accuracy that is low and varies with the characteristics of presentation attack face images. The deep learning method has been developed in the computer vision research community, which is proven to be suitable for automatically training a feature extractor that can be used to enhance the ability of handcrafted features. To overcome the limitations of previously proposed PAD methods, we propose a new PAD method that uses a combination of deep and handcrafted features extracted from the images by visible-light camera sensor. Our proposed method uses the convolutional neural network (CNN) method to extract deep image features and the multi-level local binary pattern (MLBP) method to extract skin detail features from face images to discriminate the real and presentation attack face images. By combining the two types of image features, we form a new type of image features, called hybrid features, which has stronger discrimination ability than single image features. Finally, we use the support vector machine (SVM) method to classify the image features into real or presentation attack class. Our experimental results indicate that our proposed method outperforms previous PAD methods by yielding the smallest error rates on the same image databases.

Combining Deep and Handcrafted Image Features for Presentation Attack Detection in Face Recognition Systems Using Visible-Light Camera Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Baek, Na Rae; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-01-01

Although face recognition systems have wide application, they are vulnerable to presentation attack samples (fake samples). Therefore, a presentation attack detection (PAD) method is required to enhance the security level of face recognition systems. Most of the previously proposed PAD methods for face recognition systems have focused on using handcrafted image features, which are designed by expert knowledge of designers, such as Gabor filter, local binary pattern (LBP), local ternary pattern (LTP), and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG). As a result, the extracted features reflect limited aspects of the problem, yielding a detection accuracy that is low and varies with the characteristics of presentation attack face images. The deep learning method has been developed in the computer vision research community, which is proven to be suitable for automatically training a feature extractor that can be used to enhance the ability of handcrafted features. To overcome the limitations of previously proposed PAD methods, we propose a new PAD method that uses a combination of deep and handcrafted features extracted from the images by visible-light camera sensor. Our proposed method uses the convolutional neural network (CNN) method to extract deep image features and the multi-level local binary pattern (MLBP) method to extract skin detail features from face images to discriminate the real and presentation attack face images. By combining the two types of image features, we form a new type of image features, called hybrid features, which has stronger discrimination ability than single image features. Finally, we use the support vector machine (SVM) method to classify the image features into real or presentation attack class. Our experimental results indicate that our proposed method outperforms previous PAD methods by yielding the smallest error rates on the same image databases. PMID:29495417

Laparoscopy After Previous Laparotomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zulfo Godinjak

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Following the abdominal surgery, extensive adhesions often occur and they can cause difficulties during laparoscopic operations. However, previous laparotomy is not considered to be a contraindication for laparoscopy. The aim of this study is to present that an insertion of Veres needle in the region of umbilicus is a safe method for creating a pneumoperitoneum for laparoscopic operations after previous laparotomy. In the last three years, we have performed 144 laparoscopic operations in patients that previously underwent one or two laparotomies. Pathology of digestive system, genital organs, Cesarean Section or abdominal war injuries were the most common causes of previouslaparotomy. During those operations or during entering into abdominal cavity we have not experienced any complications, while in 7 patients we performed conversion to laparotomy following the diagnostic laparoscopy. In all patients an insertion of Veres needle and trocar insertion in the umbilical region was performed, namely a technique of closed laparoscopy. Not even in one patient adhesions in the region of umbilicus were found, and no abdominal organs were injured.

Brain activity patterns uniquely supporting visual feature integration after traumatic brain injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anjali eRaja Beharelle

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Traumatic brain injury (TBI patients typically respond more slowly and with more variability than controls during tasks of attention requiring speeded reaction time. These behavioral changes are attributable, at least in part, to diffuse axonal injury (DAI, which affects integrated processing in distributed systems. Here we use a multivariate method sensitive to distributed neural activity to compare brain activity patterns of patients with chronic phase moderate-to-severe TBI to those of controls during performance on a visual feature-integration task assessing complex attentional processes that has previously shown sensitivity to TBI. The TBI patients were carefully screened to be free of large focal lesions that can affect performance and brain activation independently of DAI. The task required subjects to hold either one or three features of a target in mind while suppressing responses to distracting information. In controls, the multi-feature condition activated a distributed network including limbic, prefrontal, and medial temporal structures. TBI patients engaged this same network in the single-feature and baseline conditions. In multi-feature presentations, TBI patients alone activated additional frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. These results are consistent with neuroimaging studies using tasks assessing different cognitive domains, where increased spread of brain activity changes was associated with TBI. Our results also extend previous findings that brain activity for relatively moderate task demands in TBI patients is similar to that associated with of high task demands in controls.

Toward a Comprehensive Framework for Evaluating the Core Integration Features of Enterprise Integration Middleware Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Moradi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available To achieve greater automation of their business processes, organizations face the challenge of integrating disparate systems. In attempting to overcome this problem, organizations are turning to different kinds of enterprise integration. Implementing enterprise integration is a complex task involving both technological and business challenges and requires appropriate middleware technologies. Different enterprise integration solutions provide various functions and features which lead to the complexity of their evaluation process. To overcome this complexity, appropriate tools for evaluating the core integration features of enterprise integration solutions is required. This paper proposes a new comprehensive framework for evaluating the core integration features of both intra-enterprise and inter-enterprise Integration's enabling technologies, which simplify the process of evaluating the requirements met by enterprise integration middleware technologies.The proposed framework for evaluating the core integration features of enterprise integration middleware technologies was enhanced using the structural and conceptual aspects of previous frameworks. It offers a new schema for which various enterprise integration middleware technologies are categorized in different classifications and are evaluated based on their supporting level for the core integration features' criteria. These criteria include the functional and supporting features. The proposed framework, which is a revised version of our previous framework in this area, has developed the scope, structure and content of the mentioned framework.

Robust adaptive fuzzy neural tracking control for a class of unknown ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy neural controller (AFNC) for a class of unknown chaotic systems is ... The robust controller is used to guarantee the stability and to control the per- ..... From the above analysis we have the following theorem:.

Acoustical features of two Mayan monuments at Chichen Itza: Accident or design?

Science.gov (United States)

Lubman, David

2002-11-01

Chichen Itza dominated the early postclassic Maya world, ca. 900-1200 C.E. Two of its colossal monuments, the Great Ball Court and the temple of Kukulkan, reflect the sophisticated, hybrid culture of a Mexicanized Maya civilization. The architecture seems intended for ceremony and ritual drama. Deducing ritual practices will advance the understanding of a lost civilization, but what took place there is largely unknown. Perhaps acoustical science can add value. Unexpected and unusual acoustical features can be interpreted as intriguing clues or irrelevant accidents. Acoustical advocates believe that, when combined with an understanding of the Maya worldview, acoustical features can provide unique insights into how the Maya designed and used theater spaces. At Chichen Itza's monuments, sound reinforcement features improve rulers and priests ability to address large crowds, and Ball Court whispering galleries permit speech communication over unexpectedly large distances. Handclaps at Kukulkan stimulate chirps that mimic a revered bird (''Kukul''), thus reinforcing cultic beliefs. A ball striking playing field wall stimulates flutter echoes at the Great Ball Court; their strength and duration arguably had dramatic, mythic, and practical significance. Interpretations of the possible mythic, magic, and political significance of sound phenomena at these Maya monuments strongly suggests intentional design.

Feature and Pose Constrained Visual Aided Inertial Navigation for Computationally Constrained Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Brian; Hudson, Nicolas; Tweddle, Brent; Brockers, Roland; Matthies, Larry

2011-01-01

A Feature and Pose Constrained Extended Kalman Filter (FPC-EKF) is developed for highly dynamic computationally constrained micro aerial vehicles. Vehicle localization is achieved using only a low performance inertial measurement unit and a single camera. The FPC-EKF framework augments the vehicle's state with both previous vehicle poses and critical environmental features, including vertical edges. This filter framework efficiently incorporates measurements from hundreds of opportunistic visual features to constrain the motion estimate, while allowing navigating and sustained tracking with respect to a few persistent features. In addition, vertical features in the environment are opportunistically used to provide global attitude references. Accurate pose estimation is demonstrated on a sequence including fast traversing, where visual features enter and exit the field-of-view quickly, as well as hover and ingress maneuvers where drift free navigation is achieved with respect to the environment.

Feature-guided analysis for reduction of false positives in CAD of polyps for computed tomographic colonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naeppi, Janne; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

2003-01-01

We evaluated the effect of our novel technique of feature-guided analysis of polyps on the reduction of false-positive (FP) findings generated by our computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) scheme for the detection of polyps from computed tomography colonographic data sets. The detection performance obtained by use of feature-guided analysis in the segmentation and feature analysis of polyp candidates was compared with that obtained by use of our previously employed fuzzy clustering technique. We also evaluated the effect of a feature called modified gradient concentration (MGC) on the detection performance. A total of 144 data sets, representing prone and supine views of 72 patients that included 14 patients with 21 colorectal polyps 5-25 mm in diameter, were used in the evaluation. At a 100% by-patient (95% by-polyp) detection sensitivity, the FP rate of our CAD scheme with feature-guided analysis based on round-robin evaluation was 1.3 (1.5) FP detections per patient. This corresponds to a 70-75 % reduction in the number of FPs obtained by use of fuzzy clustering at the same sensitivity levels. Application of the MGC feature instead of our previously used gradient concentration feature did not improve the detection result. The results indicate that feature-guided analysis is useful for achieving high sensitivity and a low FP rate in our CAD scheme

Adaptive control of Parkinson's state based on a nonlinear computational model with unknown parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Fei; Wang, Jiang; Deng, Bin; Wei, Xi-Le; Chen, Ying-Yuan; Liu, Chen; Li, Hui-Yan

2015-02-01

The objective here is to explore the use of adaptive input-output feedback linearization method to achieve an improved deep brain stimulation (DBS) algorithm for closed-loop control of Parkinson's state. The control law is based on a highly nonlinear computational model of Parkinson's disease (PD) with unknown parameters. The restoration of thalamic relay reliability is formulated as the desired outcome of the adaptive control methodology, and the DBS waveform is the control input. The control input is adjusted in real time according to estimates of unknown parameters as well as the feedback signal. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive control algorithm succeeds in restoring the relay reliability of the thalamus, and at the same time achieves accurate estimation of unknown parameters. Our findings point to the potential value of adaptive control approach that could be used to regulate DBS waveform in more effective treatment of PD.

Building a RAPPOR with the Unknown: Privacy-Preserving Learning of Associations and Data Dictionaries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fanti Giulia

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Techniques based on randomized response enable the collection of potentially sensitive data from clients in a privacy-preserving manner with strong local differential privacy guarantees. A recent such technology, RAPPOR [12], enables estimation of the marginal frequencies of a set of strings via privacy-preserving crowdsourcing. However, this original estimation process relies on a known dictionary of possible strings; in practice, this dictionary can be extremely large and/or unknown. In this paper, we propose a novel decoding algorithm for the RAPPOR mechanism that enables the estimation of “unknown unknowns,” i.e., strings we do not know we should be estimating. To enable learning without explicit dictionary knowledge, we develop methodology for estimating the joint distribution of multiple variables collected with RAPPOR. Our contributions are not RAPPOR-specific, and can be generalized to other local differential privacy mechanisms for learning distributions of string-valued random variables.

Ratbot automatic navigation by electrical reward stimulation based on distance measurement in unknown environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Liqiang; Sun, Chao; Zhang, Chen; Zheng, Nenggan; Chen, Weidong; Zheng, Xiaoxiang

2013-01-01

Traditional automatic navigation methods for bio-robots are constrained to configured environments and thus can't be applied to tasks in unknown environments. With no consideration of bio-robot's own innate living ability and treating bio-robots in the same way as mechanical robots, those methods neglect the intelligence behavior of animals. This paper proposes a novel ratbot automatic navigation method in unknown environments using only reward stimulation and distance measurement. By utilizing rat's habit of thigmotaxis and its reward-seeking behavior, this method is able to incorporate rat's intrinsic intelligence of obstacle avoidance and path searching into navigation. Experiment results show that this method works robustly and can successfully navigate the ratbot to a target in the unknown environment. This work might put a solid base for application of ratbots and also has significant implication of automatic navigation for other bio-robots as well.

A novel cerebello-ocular syndrome with abnormal glycosylation due to abnormalities in dolichol metabolism.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morava, E.; Wevers, R.A.; Cantagrel, V.; Hoefsloot, L.H.; Al-Gazali, L.; Schoots, J.; Rooij, A. van; Huijben, K.; Ravenswaaij-Arts, C.M.A. van; Jongmans, M.C.J.; Sykut-Cegielska, J.; Hoffmann, G.F.; Bluemel, P.; Adamowicz, M.; Reeuwijk, J. van; Ng, B.G.; Bergman, J.E.; Bokhoven, J.H.L.M. van; Korner, C.; Babovic-Vuksanovic, D.; Willemsen, M.A.A.P.; Gleeson, J.G.; Lehle, L.; Brouwer, A.P.M. de; Lefeber, D.J.

2010-01-01

Cerebellar hypoplasia and slowly progressive ophthalmological symptoms are common features in patients with congenital disorders of glycosylation type I. In a group of patients with congenital disorders of glycosylation type I with unknown aetiology, we have previously described a distinct phenotype

MR, CT, and myelographic features of epidural lipomatosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quint, D.J.; Boulos, R.S.; Patel, S.C.; Sanders, W.P.; Tiel, R.L.; Washington, J.M.

1987-01-01

Central deposition of fat is a well-known clinical feature of chronically elevated corticosteroid levels. Rarely described is increased extradural fat causing compression of the spinal cord and neurologic deficits. Twelve previously reported and five new cases of epidural lipomatosis are presented. Representative examples of the common myelographic and CT findings in this disorder are shown. In addition, previously undescribed examples of epidural lipomatosis demonstrating (1) the MR findings, (2) no associated myelographic block, (3) lipomatosis in both the thoracic and lumbar regions, and (4) a case in a nonobese patient without known steroid use are presented. The importance of considering this entity in the appropriate clinical setting (chronic exogenous steroid use) even with a normal myelogram is stressed

Right-hemispheric processing of non-linguistic word features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baumgaertner, Annette; Hartwigsen, Gesa; Roman Siebner, Hartwig

2013-01-01

-hemispheric homologues of classic left-hemispheric language areas may partly be due to processing nonlinguistic perceptual features of verbal stimuli. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to clarify the role of the right hemisphere in the perception of nonlinguistic word features in healthy individuals. Participants made...... perceptual, semantic, or phonological decisions on the same set of auditorily and visually presented word stimuli. Perceptual decisions required judgements about stimulus-inherent changes in font size (visual modality) or fundamental frequency contour (auditory modality). The semantic judgement required......, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), an area previously suggested to support language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke, displayed modality-independent activation during perceptual processing of word stimuli. Our findings indicate that activation of the right hemisphere during language tasks may...

The first missense mutation of NHS gene in a Tunisian family with clinical features of NHS syndrome including cardiac anomaly.

Science.gov (United States)

Chograni, Manèl; Rejeb, Imen; Jemaa, Lamia Ben; Châabouni, Myriam; Bouhamed, Habiba Chaabouni

2011-08-01

Nance-Horan Syndrome (NHS) or X-linked cataract-dental syndrome is a disease of unknown gene action mechanism, characterized by congenital cataract, dental anomalies, dysmorphic features and, in some cases, mental retardation. We performed linkage analysis in a Tunisian family with NHS in which affected males and obligate carrier female share a common haplotype in the Xp22.32-p11.21 region that contains the NHS gene. Direct sequencing of NHS coding exons and flanking intronic sequences allowed us to identify the first missense mutation (P551S) and a reported SNP-polymorphism (L1319F) in exon 6, a reported UTR-SNP (c.7422 C>T) and a novel one (c.8239 T>A) in exon 8. Both variations P551S and c.8239 T>A segregate with NHS phenotype in this family. Although truncations, frame-shift and copy number variants have been reported in this gene, no missense mutations have been found to segregate previously. This is the first report of a missense NHS mutation causing NHS phenotype (including cardiac defects). We hypothesize also that the non-reported UTR-SNP of the exon 8 (3'-UTR) is specific to the Tunisian population.

Vaginal symptoms of unknown etiology - a study in dutch general-practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dekker, Janny H.; Boeke, A. Joan P.; Janssens, J; van Eijk, J.Th.M.

Vaginal symptoms are frequently presented by women to general practitioners. In many cases, the aetiology of these symptoms remains unknown. This study focused on the factors associated with microbiologically unexplained vaginal symptoms, the course of symptoms and signs in these cases, and factors

Paclitaxel/carboplatin with or without belinostat as empiric first-line treatment for patients with carcinoma of unknown primary site

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hainsworth, John D; Daugaard, Gedske; Lesimple, Thierry

2015-01-01

: The addition of belinostat to paclitaxel/carboplatin did not improve the PFS of patients with CUP who were receiving first-line therapy, although the patients who received belinostat had a higher investigator-assessed response rate. Future trials in CUP should focus on specific subsets, defined either......BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of belinostat, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, when added to paclitaxel/carboplatin in the empiric first-line treatment of patients with carcinoma of unknown primary site (CUP). METHODS: In this randomized phase 2 trial......, previously untreated patients with CUP were randomized to receive belinostat plus paclitaxel/carboplatin (group A) or paclitaxel/carboplatin alone (group B) repeated every 21 days. Patients were re-evaluated every 2 cycles, and those without disease progression continued treatment for 6 cycles. Patients...

Sequence-based classification using discriminatory motif feature selection.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Xiong

Full Text Available Most existing methods for sequence-based classification use exhaustive feature generation, employing, for example, all k-mer patterns. The motivation behind such (enumerative approaches is to minimize the potential for overlooking important features. However, there are shortcomings to this strategy. First, practical constraints limit the scope of exhaustive feature generation to patterns of length ≤ k, such that potentially important, longer (> k predictors are not considered. Second, features so generated exhibit strong dependencies, which can complicate understanding of derived classification rules. Third, and most importantly, numerous irrelevant features are created. These concerns can compromise prediction and interpretation. While remedies have been proposed, they tend to be problem-specific and not broadly applicable. Here, we develop a generally applicable methodology, and an attendant software pipeline, that is predicated on discriminatory motif finding. In addition to the traditional training and validation partitions, our framework entails a third level of data partitioning, a discovery partition. A discriminatory motif finder is used on sequences and associated class labels in the discovery partition to yield a (small set of features. These features are then used as inputs to a classifier in the training partition. Finally, performance assessment occurs on the validation partition. Important attributes of our approach are its modularity (any discriminatory motif finder and any classifier can be deployed and its universality (all data, including sequences that are unaligned and/or of unequal length, can be accommodated. We illustrate our approach on two nucleosome occupancy datasets and a protein solubility dataset, previously analyzed using enumerative feature generation. Our method achieves excellent performance results, with and without optimization of classifier tuning parameters. A Python pipeline implementing the approach is

Preoperative screening: value of previous tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Macpherson, D S; Snow, R; Lofgren, R P

1990-12-15

To determine the frequency of tests done in the year before elective surgery that might substitute for preoperative screening tests and to determine the frequency of test results that change from a normal value to a value likely to alter perioperative management. Retrospective cohort analysis of computerized laboratory data (complete blood count, sodium, potassium, and creatinine levels, prothrombin time, and partial thromboplastin time). Urban tertiary care Veterans Affairs Hospital. Consecutive sample of 1109 patients who had elective surgery in 1988. At admission, 7549 preoperative tests were done, 47% of which duplicated tests performed in the previous year. Of 3096 previous results that were normal as defined by hospital reference range and done closest to the time of but before admission (median interval, 2 months), 13 (0.4%; 95% CI, 0.2% to 0.7%), repeat values were outside a range considered acceptable for surgery. Most of the abnormalities were predictable from the patient's history, and most were not noted in the medical record. Of 461 previous tests that were abnormal, 78 (17%; CI, 13% to 20%) repeat values at admission were outside a range considered acceptable for surgery (P less than 0.001, frequency of clinically important abnormalities of patients with normal previous results with those with abnormal previous results). Physicians evaluating patients preoperatively could safely substitute the previous test results analyzed in this study for preoperative screening tests if the previous tests are normal and no obvious indication for retesting is present.

Prostate cancer detection: Fusion of cytological and textural features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kien Nguyen

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A computer-assisted system for histological prostate cancer diagnosis can assist pathologists in two stages: (i to locate cancer regions in a large digitized tissue biopsy, and (ii to assign Gleason grades to the regions detected in stage 1. Most previous studies on this topic have primarily addressed the second stage by classifying the preselected tissue regions. In this paper, we address the first stage by presenting a cancer detection approach for the whole slide tissue image. We propose a novel method to extract a cytological feature, namely the presence of cancer nuclei (nuclei with prominent nucleoli in the tissue, and apply this feature to detect the cancer regions. Additionally, conventional image texture features which have been widely used in the literature are also considered. The performance comparison among the proposed cytological textural feature combination method, the texture-based method and the cytological feature-based method demonstrates the robustness of the extracted cytological feature. At a false positive rate of 6%, the proposed method is able to achieve a sensitivity of 78% on a dataset including six training images (each of which has approximately 4,000x7,000 pixels and 1 1 whole-slide test images (each of which has approximately 5,000x23,000 pixels. All images are at 20X magnification.

Enhancing facial features by using clear facial features

Science.gov (United States)

Rofoo, Fanar Fareed Hanna

2017-09-01

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

Spatial features register: toward standardization of spatial features

Science.gov (United States)

Cascio, Janette

1994-01-01

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

Accessory papillary muscles and papillary muscle hypertrophy are associated with sudden cardiac arrest of unknown cause.

Science.gov (United States)

Uhm, Jae-Sun; Youn, Jong-Chan; Lee, Hye-Jeong; Park, Junbeom; Park, Jin-Kyu; Shim, Chi Young; Hong, Geu-Ru; Joung, Boyoung; Pak, Hui-Nam; Lee, Moon-Hyoung

2015-10-15

The present study was performed for elucidating the associations between the morphology of the papillary muscles (PMs) and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). We retrospectively reviewed history, laboratory data, electrocardiography, echocardiography, coronary angiography, and cardiac CT/MRI for 190 patients with SCA. The prevalence of accessory PMs and PM hypertrophy in patients with SCA of unknown cause was compared with that in patients with SCA of known causes and 98 age- and sex-matched patients without SCA. An accessory PM was defined as a PM with origins separated from the anterolateral and posteromedial PMs, or a PM that branched into two or three bellies at the base of the anterolateral or posteromedial PM. PM hypertrophy was defined as at least one of the two PMs having a diameter of ≥1.1cm. In 49 patients (age 49.9±15.9years; 38 men) the cause of SCA was unknown, whereas 141 (age 54.2±16.6years; 121 men) had a known cause. The prevalence of accessory PMs was significantly higher in the unknown-cause group than in the known-cause group (24.5% and 7.8%, respectively; p=0.002) or the no-SCA group (7.1%, p=0.003). The same was true for PM hypertrophy (unknown-cause 12.2%, known-cause 2.1%, p=0.010; no SCA group 1.0%, p=0.006). By logistic regression, accessory PM and PM hypertrophy were independently associated with sudden cardiac arrest of unknown cause. An accessory PM and PM hypertrophy are associated with SCA of unknown cause. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long-term outcome of peroral endoscopic myotomy for esophageal achalasia in patients with previous Heller myotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kristensen, Helle Ø; Kirkegård, Jakob; Kjær, Daniel Willy; Mortensen, Frank Viborg; Kunda, Rastislav; Bjerregaard, Niels Christian

2017-06-01

Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is an emerging procedure in the treatment of esophageal achalasia, a primary motility disorder. However, the long-term outcome of POEM in patients, who have previously undergone a Heller myotomy, is unknown. Using a local database, we identified patients with esophageal achalasia, who underwent POEM. We compared patients with a previous Heller myotomy to those, who had received none or only non-surgical therapy prior to the POEM procedure. We conducted follow-up examinations at 3, 12, and 24 months following the procedure. We included 66 consecutive patients undergoing POEM for achalasia, of which 14 (21.2 %) had undergone a prior Heller myotomy. In both groups, the preoperative Eckardt score was 7. Postoperatively, the non-Heller group experienced a more pronounced symptom relief at both 3-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up compared with the Heller group, and there was a tendency for the effect of POEM to reduce over time. We suggest that there is a correlation between preoperative measurements of gastroesophageal sphincter pressures and the chance of a successful POEM. POEM has a place in the treatment of esophageal achalasia in patients with a prior Heller myotomy and persistent symptoms as it is a safe procedure with acceptable long-term results.

Towards an Efficient Artificial Neural Network Pruning and Feature Ranking Tool

KAUST Repository

AlShahrani, Mona

2015-01-01

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are known to be among the most effective and expressive machine learning models. Their impressive abilities to learn have been reflected in many broad application domains such as image recognition, medical diagnosis, online banking, robotics, dynamic systems, and many others. ANNs with multiple layers of complex non-linear transformations (a.k.a Deep ANNs) have shown recently successful results in the area of computer vision and speech recognition. ANNs are parametric models that approximate unknown functions in which parameter values (weights) are adapted during training. ANN’s weights can be large in number and thus render the trained model more complex with chances for “overfitting” training data. In this study, we explore the effects of network pruning on performance of ANNs and ranking of features that describe the data. Simplified ANN model results in fewer parameters, less computation and faster training. We investigate the use of Hessian-based pruning algorithms as well as simpler ones (i.e. non Hessian-based) on nine datasets with varying number of input features and ANN parameters. The Hessian-based Optimal Brain Surgeon algorithm (OBS) is robust but slow. Therefore a faster parallel Hessian- approximation is provided. An additional speedup is provided using a variant we name ‘Simple n Optimal Brain Surgeon’ (SNOBS), which represents a good compromise between robustness and time efficiency. For some of the datasets, the ANN pruning experiments show on average 91% reduction in the number of ANN parameters and about 60% - 90% in the number of ANN input features, while maintaining comparable or better accuracy to the case when no pruning is applied. Finally, we show through a comprehensive comparison with seven state-of-the art feature filtering methods that the feature selection and ranking obtained as a byproduct of the ANN pruning is comparable in accuracy to these methods.

Towards an Efficient Artificial Neural Network Pruning and Feature Ranking Tool

KAUST Repository

AlShahrani, Mona

2015-05-24

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are known to be among the most effective and expressive machine learning models. Their impressive abilities to learn have been reflected in many broad application domains such as image recognition, medical diagnosis, online banking, robotics, dynamic systems, and many others. ANNs with multiple layers of complex non-linear transformations (a.k.a Deep ANNs) have shown recently successful results in the area of computer vision and speech recognition. ANNs are parametric models that approximate unknown functions in which parameter values (weights) are adapted during training. ANN’s weights can be large in number and thus render the trained model more complex with chances for “overfitting” training data. In this study, we explore the effects of network pruning on performance of ANNs and ranking of features that describe the data. Simplified ANN model results in fewer parameters, less computation and faster training. We investigate the use of Hessian-based pruning algorithms as well as simpler ones (i.e. non Hessian-based) on nine datasets with varying number of input features and ANN parameters. The Hessian-based Optimal Brain Surgeon algorithm (OBS) is robust but slow. Therefore a faster parallel Hessian- approximation is provided. An additional speedup is provided using a variant we name ‘Simple n Optimal Brain Surgeon’ (SNOBS), which represents a good compromise between robustness and time efficiency. For some of the datasets, the ANN pruning experiments show on average 91% reduction in the number of ANN parameters and about 60% - 90% in the number of ANN input features, while maintaining comparable or better accuracy to the case when no pruning is applied. Finally, we show through a comprehensive comparison with seven state-of-the art feature filtering methods that the feature selection and ranking obtained as a byproduct of the ANN pruning is comparable in accuracy to these methods.

Biomarkers for Ectopic Pregnancy and Pregnancy of Unknown Location

OpenAIRE

Senapati, Suneeta; Barnhart, Kurt T.

2013-01-01

Early pregnancy failure is the most common complication of pregnancy, and 1–2% of all pregnancies will be ectopic. As one of the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality, diagnosing ectopic pregnancy and determining the fate of a pregnancy of unknown location are of great clinical concern. Several serum and plasma biomarkers for ectopic pregnancy have been investigated independently and in combination. The following is a review of the state of biomarker discovery and development for...

More than one kind of inference: re-examining what's learned in feature inference and classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweller, Naomi; Hayes, Brett K

2010-08-01

Three studies examined how task demands that impact on attention to typical or atypical category features shape the category representations formed through classification learning and inference learning. During training categories were learned via exemplar classification or by inferring missing exemplar features. In the latter condition inferences were made about missing typical features alone (typical feature inference) or about both missing typical and atypical features (mixed feature inference). Classification and mixed feature inference led to the incorporation of typical and atypical features into category representations, with both kinds of features influencing inferences about familiar (Experiments 1 and 2) and novel (Experiment 3) test items. Those in the typical inference condition focused primarily on typical features. Together with formal modelling, these results challenge previous accounts that have characterized inference learning as producing a focus on typical category features. The results show that two different kinds of inference learning are possible and that these are subserved by different kinds of category representations.

Feature selection based on SVM significance maps for classification of dementia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.E. Bron (Esther); M. Smits (Marion); J.C. van Swieten (John); W.J. Niessen (Wiro); S. Klein (Stefan)

2014-01-01

textabstractSupport vector machine significance maps (SVM p-maps) previously showed clusters of significantly different voxels in dementiarelated brain regions. We propose a novel feature selection method for classification of dementia based on these p-maps. In our approach, the SVM p-maps are

Long Valley Caldera-Mammoth Mountain unrest: The knowns and unknowns

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, David P.

2017-01-01

This perspective is based largely on my study of the Long Valley Caldera (California, USA) over the past 40 years. Here, I’ll examine the “knowns” and the “known unknowns” of the complex tectonic–magmatic system of the Long Valley Caldera volcanic complex. I will also offer a few brief thoughts on the “unknown unknowns” of this system.

Metastatic Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Presenting as Jugular Venous Thrombosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prince Cheriyan Modayil

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Jugular venous thrombosis is unusual and is associated with central venous catheterisation, intravenous drug abuse and head and neck sepsis. It is rarely associated with malignancy. We report a case of metastatic carcinoma of unknown primary in a forty year old female which presented with jugular venous thrombosis. The discussion includes investigation and treatment options for this condition.

Four Unknown Prison Poems by H. C. Bosman | MacKenzie ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Four Unknown Prison Poems by H. C. Bosman. C MacKenzie. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v40i2.1 · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors ...

Structural violence and chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

de Silva, M W Amarasiri; Albert, Steven M; Jayasekara, J M K B

2017-04-01

Research published on Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka has been undertaken largely from biomedical and epidemiological perspectives. The main objective of these studies has been to identify the etiology of the disease, which affects as much as 15-21% of the population in some regions and is associated with kidney failure. Few studies have sought to address how CKDu is socially and behaviorally situated in the affected districts. The present study, informed by structural violence theory, utilized a mixed-method approach that analyzed primary and secondary data for Medawachchiya District Secretariat Division in Anuradhapura District for 2010 and 2015, and examined CKDu as a manifestation of social inequality and exclusion and the creation of a marginalized group of agricultural laborers. Data include historical analyses, a case-control study, ecologic analysis of features of communities and CKDu prevalence, and direct observations and interviews with people in affected communities. In 2010, the most important factor associated with CKDu was private dug wells that were used for supplying water to homes. In 2015, when the number of patients had increased, CKDu was more closely linked to occupation, especially male wage labor. The male wage laborer, being the poorest of the poor, has become a particularly vulnerable social category in agricultural settlements in Medawachchiya. The co-occurrence of this social category and CKDu can be regarded as unintended consequences of the official agricultural colonization policy that started during British colonial times and has continued since independence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use of Medicines with Unknown Fetal Risk among Parturient Women from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort (Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andréa Dâmaso Bertoldi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background. To estimate the exposure to medicines with unknown fetal risk during pregnancy and to analyze the maternal characteristics associated with it. Methods. A questionnaire was administered to 4,189 mothers of children belonging to the 2004 Pelotas (Brazil birth cohort study about use of any medicine during gestation. We evaluated the associations between use of medicines with unknown fetal risk and the independent variables through logistic regression models. Unknown fetal risk was defined as medicines in which studies in animals have revealed adverse effects on the fetus, and no controlled studies in women, or studies in women and animals, are available. Results. Out of the 4,189 women, 52.5% used at least one medicine from unknown fetal risk. Use of these medicines was associated with white skin color, high schooling, high income, six or more antenatal care consultations, hospital admission during pregnancy, and morbidity during gestation. Conclusion. The use of unknown fetal risk medicines is high, suggesting that their use must be addressed with caution with the aim of restricting their use to cases in which the benefits are greater than the potential risks.

General methods for modified projective synchronization of hyperchaotic systems with known or unknown parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Yang; Fang, Jian-an

2008-03-01

This work is concerned with the general methods for modified projective synchronization of hyperchaotic systems. A systematic method of active control is developed to synchronize two hyperchaotic systems with known parameters. Moreover, by combining the adaptive control and linear feedback methods, general sufficient conditions for the modified projective synchronization of identical or different chaotic systems with fully unknown or partially unknown parameters are presented. Meanwhile, the speed of parameters identification can be regulated by adjusting adaptive gain matrix. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

The plant pathogen Phytophthora andina emerged via hybridization of an unknown Phytophthora species and the Irish potato famine pathogen, P. infestans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erica M Goss

Full Text Available Emerging plant pathogens have largely been a consequence of the movement of pathogens to new geographic regions. Another documented mechanism for the emergence of plant pathogens is hybridization between individuals of different species or subspecies, which may allow rapid evolution and adaptation to new hosts or environments. Hybrid plant pathogens have traditionally been difficult to detect or confirm, but the increasing ease of cloning and sequencing PCR products now makes the identification of species that consistently have genes or alleles with phylogenetically divergent origins relatively straightforward. We investigated the genetic origin of Phytophthora andina, an increasingly common pathogen of Andean crops Solanum betaceum, S. muricatum, S. quitoense, and several wild Solanum spp. It has been hypothesized that P. andina is a hybrid between the potato late blight pathogen P. infestans and another Phytophthora species. We tested this hypothesis by cloning four nuclear loci to obtain haplotypes and using these loci to infer the phylogenetic relationships of P. andina to P. infestans and other related species. Sequencing of cloned PCR products in every case revealed two distinct haplotypes for each locus in P. andina, such that each isolate had one allele derived from a P. infestans parent and a second divergent allele derived from an unknown species that is closely related but distinct from P. infestans, P. mirabilis, and P. ipomoeae. To the best of our knowledge, the unknown parent has not yet been collected. We also observed sequence polymorphism among P. andina isolates at three of the four loci, many of which segregate between previously described P. andina clonal lineages. These results provide strong support that P. andina emerged via hybridization between P. infestans and another unknown Phytophthora species also belonging to Phytophthora clade 1c.

FEATURE SELECTION METHODS BASED ON MUTUAL INFORMATION FOR CLASSIFYING HETEROGENEOUS FEATURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ratri Enggar Pawening

2016-06-01

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

Detection of sinkhole precursors through SAR interferometry: radar and geological considerations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Theron, Andre

2017-06-01

Full Text Available TerraSAR-X were acquired over a full year. DInSAR results revealed the presence of three previously unknown deformation features, one of which could be confirmed by subsequent field investigations. Furthermore, a water supply pipeline ruptured six months...

Saliency-Guided Detection of Unknown Objects in RGB-D Indoor Scenes.

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Bao, Jiatong; Jia, Yunyi; Cheng, Yu; Xi, Ning

2015-08-27

This paper studies the problem of detecting unknown objects within indoor environments in an active and natural manner. The visual saliency scheme utilizing both color and depth cues is proposed to arouse the interests of the machine system for detecting unknown objects at salient positions in a 3D scene. The 3D points at the salient positions are selected as seed points for generating object hypotheses using the 3D shape. We perform multi-class labeling on a Markov random field (MRF) over the voxels of the 3D scene, combining cues from object hypotheses and 3D shape. The results from MRF are further refined by merging the labeled objects, which are spatially connected and have high correlation between color histograms. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations on two benchmark RGB-D datasets illustrate the advantages of the proposed method. The experiments of object detection and manipulation performed on a mobile manipulator validate its effectiveness and practicability in robotic applications.

Performance study of LMS based adaptive algorithms for unknown system identification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Javed, Shazia; Ahmad, Noor Atinah [School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang (Malaysia)

2014-07-10

Adaptive filtering techniques have gained much popularity in the modeling of unknown system identification problem. These techniques can be classified as either iterative or direct. Iterative techniques include stochastic descent method and its improved versions in affine space. In this paper we present a comparative study of the least mean square (LMS) algorithm and some improved versions of LMS, more precisely the normalized LMS (NLMS), LMS-Newton, transform domain LMS (TDLMS) and affine projection algorithm (APA). The performance evaluation of these algorithms is carried out using adaptive system identification (ASI) model with random input signals, in which the unknown (measured) signal is assumed to be contaminated by output noise. Simulation results are recorded to compare the performance in terms of convergence speed, robustness, misalignment, and their sensitivity to the spectral properties of input signals. Main objective of this comparative study is to observe the effects of fast convergence rate of improved versions of LMS algorithms on their robustness and misalignment.

Performance study of LMS based adaptive algorithms for unknown system identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Javed, Shazia; Ahmad, Noor Atinah

2014-01-01

Adaptive filtering techniques have gained much popularity in the modeling of unknown system identification problem. These techniques can be classified as either iterative or direct. Iterative techniques include stochastic descent method and its improved versions in affine space. In this paper we present a comparative study of the least mean square (LMS) algorithm and some improved versions of LMS, more precisely the normalized LMS (NLMS), LMS-Newton, transform domain LMS (TDLMS) and affine projection algorithm (APA). The performance evaluation of these algorithms is carried out using adaptive system identification (ASI) model with random input signals, in which the unknown (measured) signal is assumed to be contaminated by output noise. Simulation results are recorded to compare the performance in terms of convergence speed, robustness, misalignment, and their sensitivity to the spectral properties of input signals. Main objective of this comparative study is to observe the effects of fast convergence rate of improved versions of LMS algorithms on their robustness and misalignment

A feature-based approach to modeling protein-protein interaction hot spots.

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Cho, Kyu-il; Kim, Dongsup; Lee, Doheon

2009-05-01

Identifying features that effectively represent the energetic contribution of an individual interface residue to the interactions between proteins remains problematic. Here, we present several new features and show that they are more effective than conventional features. By combining the proposed features with conventional features, we develop a predictive model for interaction hot spots. Initially, 54 multifaceted features, composed of different levels of information including structure, sequence and molecular interaction information, are quantified. Then, to identify the best subset of features for predicting hot spots, feature selection is performed using a decision tree. Based on the selected features, a predictive model for hot spots is created using support vector machine (SVM) and tested on an independent test set. Our model shows better overall predictive accuracy than previous methods such as the alanine scanning methods Robetta and FOLDEF, and the knowledge-based method KFC. Subsequent analysis yields several findings about hot spots. As expected, hot spots have a larger relative surface area burial and are more hydrophobic than other residues. Unexpectedly, however, residue conservation displays a rather complicated tendency depending on the types of protein complexes, indicating that this feature is not good for identifying hot spots. Of the selected features, the weighted atomic packing density, relative surface area burial and weighted hydrophobicity are the top 3, with the weighted atomic packing density proving to be the most effective feature for predicting hot spots. Notably, we find that hot spots are closely related to pi-related interactions, especially pi . . . pi interactions.

A feature-based approach to modeling protein–protein interaction hot spots

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Kyu-il; Kim, Dongsup; Lee, Doheon

2009-01-01

Identifying features that effectively represent the energetic contribution of an individual interface residue to the interactions between proteins remains problematic. Here, we present several new features and show that they are more effective than conventional features. By combining the proposed features with conventional features, we develop a predictive model for interaction hot spots. Initially, 54 multifaceted features, composed of different levels of information including structure, sequence and molecular interaction information, are quantified. Then, to identify the best subset of features for predicting hot spots, feature selection is performed using a decision tree. Based on the selected features, a predictive model for hot spots is created using support vector machine (SVM) and tested on an independent test set. Our model shows better overall predictive accuracy than previous methods such as the alanine scanning methods Robetta and FOLDEF, and the knowledge-based method KFC. Subsequent analysis yields several findings about hot spots. As expected, hot spots have a larger relative surface area burial and are more hydrophobic than other residues. Unexpectedly, however, residue conservation displays a rather complicated tendency depending on the types of protein complexes, indicating that this feature is not good for identifying hot spots. Of the selected features, the weighted atomic packing density, relative surface area burial and weighted hydrophobicity are the top 3, with the weighted atomic packing density proving to be the most effective feature for predicting hot spots. Notably, we find that hot spots are closely related to π–related interactions, especially π · · · π interactions. PMID:19273533

MET Activation and Physical Dynamics of the Metastatic Process: The Paradigm of Cancers of Unknown Primary Origin

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Giulia M. Stella

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The molecular and cellular mechanisms which drive metastatic spread are the topic of constant debate and scientific research due to the potential implications for cancer patients' prognosis. In addition to genetics and environmental factors, mechanics of single cells and physical interaction with the surrounding environment play relevant role in defining invasive phenotype. Reconstructing the physical properties of metastatic clones may help to clarify still open issues in disease progression as well as to lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. In this perspective cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP identify the ideal model to study physical interactions and forces involved in the metastatic process. We have previously demonstrated that MET oncogene is mutated with unexpected high frequency in CUPs. We here analyze and discuss how the MET activation by somatic mutation may affect physical properties in giving rise to such a highly malignant syndrome, as that defined by CUP.

Feature Selection Has a Large Impact on One-Class Classification Accuracy for MicroRNAs in Plants.

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Yousef, Malik; Saçar Demirci, Müşerref Duygu; Khalifa, Waleed; Allmer, Jens

2016-01-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNA sequences involved in posttranscriptional gene regulation. Their experimental analysis is complicated and, therefore, needs to be supplemented with computational miRNA detection. Currently computational miRNA detection is mainly performed using machine learning and in particular two-class classification. For machine learning, the miRNAs need to be parametrized and more than 700 features have been described. Positive training examples for machine learning are readily available, but negative data is hard to come by. Therefore, it seems prerogative to use one-class classification instead of two-class classification. Previously, we were able to almost reach two-class classification accuracy using one-class classifiers. In this work, we employ feature selection procedures in conjunction with one-class classification and show that there is up to 36% difference in accuracy among these feature selection methods. The best feature set allowed the training of a one-class classifier which achieved an average accuracy of ~95.6% thereby outperforming previous two-class-based plant miRNA detection approaches by about 0.5%. We believe that this can be improved upon in the future by rigorous filtering of the positive training examples and by improving current feature clustering algorithms to better target pre-miRNA feature selection.

State, Parameter, and Unknown Input Estimation Problems in Active Automotive Safety Applications

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Phanomchoeng, Gridsada

A variety of driver assistance systems such as traction control, electronic stability control (ESC), rollover prevention and lane departure avoidance systems are being developed by automotive manufacturers to reduce driver burden, partially automate normal driving operations, and reduce accidents. The effectiveness of these driver assistance systems can be significant enhanced if the real-time values of several vehicle parameters and state variables, namely tire-road friction coefficient, slip angle, roll angle, and rollover index, can be known. Since there are no inexpensive sensors available to measure these variables, it is necessary to estimate them. However, due to the significant nonlinear dynamics in a vehicle, due to unknown and changing plant parameters, and due to the presence of unknown input disturbances, the design of estimation algorithms for this application is challenging. This dissertation develops a new approach to observer design for nonlinear systems in which the nonlinearity has a globally (or locally) bounded Jacobian. The developed approach utilizes a modified version of the mean value theorem to express the nonlinearity in the estimation error dynamics as a convex combination of known matrices with time varying coefficients. The observer gains are then obtained by solving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). A number of illustrative examples are presented to show that the developed approach is less conservative and more useful than the standard Lipschitz assumption based nonlinear observer. The developed nonlinear observer is utilized for estimation of slip angle, longitudinal vehicle velocity, and vehicle roll angle. In order to predict and prevent vehicle rollovers in tripped situations, it is necessary to estimate the vertical tire forces in the presence of unknown road disturbance inputs. An approach to estimate unknown disturbance inputs in nonlinear systems using dynamic model inversion and a modified version of the mean value theorem is

PyEEG: An Open Source Python Module for EEG/MEG Feature Extraction

OpenAIRE

Bao, Forrest Sheng; Liu, Xin; Zhang, Christina

2011-01-01

Computer-aided diagnosis of neural diseases from EEG signals (or other physiological signals that can be treated as time series, e.g., MEG) is an emerging field that has gained much attention in past years. Extracting features is a key component in the analysis of EEG signals. In our previous works, we have implemented many EEG feature extraction functions in the Python programming language. As Python is gaining more ground in scientific computing, an open source Python module for extracting ...

Group prioritisation with unknown expert weights in incomplete linguistic context

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Cheng, Dong; Cheng, Faxin; Zhou, Zhili; Wang, Juan

2017-09-01

In this paper, we study a group prioritisation problem in situations when the expert weights are completely unknown and their judgement preferences are linguistic and incomplete. Starting from the theory of relative entropy (RE) and multiplicative consistency, an optimisation model is provided for deriving an individual priority vector without estimating the missing value(s) of an incomplete linguistic preference relation. In order to address the unknown expert weights in the group aggregating process, we define two new kinds of expert weight indicators based on RE: proximity entropy weight and similarity entropy weight. Furthermore, a dynamic-adjusting algorithm (DAA) is proposed to obtain an objective expert weight vector and capture the dynamic properties involved in it. Unlike the extant literature of group prioritisation, the proposed RE approach does not require pre-allocation of expert weights and can solve incomplete preference relations. An interesting finding is that once all the experts express their preference relations, the final expert weight vector derived from the DAA is fixed irrespective of the initial settings of expert weights. Finally, an application example is conducted to validate the effectiveness and robustness of the RE approach.

Reactive Path Planning Approach for Docking Robots in Unknown Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Cui

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Autonomous robots need to be recharged and exchange information with the host through docking in the long-distance tasks. Therefore, feasible path is required in the docking process to guide the robot and adjust its pose. However, when there are unknown obstacles in the work area, it becomes difficult to determine the feasible path for docking. This paper presents a reactive path planning approach named Dubins-APF (DAPF to solve the path planning problem for docking in unknown environment with obstacles. In this proposed approach the Dubins curves are combined with the designed obstacle avoidance potential field to plan the feasible path. Firstly, an initial path is planned and followed according to the configurations of the robot and the docking station. Then when the followed path is evaluated to be infeasible, the intermediate configuration is calculated as well as the replanned path based on the obstacle avoidance potential field. The robot will be navigated to the docking station with proper pose eventually via the DAPF approach. The proposed DAPF approach is efficient and does not require the prior knowledge about the environment. Simulation results are given to validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.

Learning about the internal structure of categories through classification and feature inference.

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Jee, Benjamin D; Wiley, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Previous research on category learning has found that classification tasks produce representations that are skewed toward diagnostic feature dimensions, whereas feature inference tasks lead to richer representations of within-category structure. Yet, prior studies often measure category knowledge through tasks that involve identifying only the typical features of a category. This neglects an important aspect of a category's internal structure: how typical and atypical features are distributed within a category. The present experiments tested the hypothesis that inference learning results in richer knowledge of internal category structure than classification learning. We introduced several new measures to probe learners' representations of within-category structure. Experiment 1 found that participants in the inference condition learned and used a wider range of feature dimensions than classification learners. Classification learners, however, were more sensitive to the presence of atypical features within categories. Experiment 2 provided converging evidence that classification learners were more likely to incorporate atypical features into their representations. Inference learners were less likely to encode atypical category features, even in a "partial inference" condition that focused learners' attention on the feature dimensions relevant to classification. Overall, these results are contrary to the hypothesis that inference learning produces superior knowledge of within-category structure. Although inference learning promoted representations that included a broad range of category-typical features, classification learning promoted greater sensitivity to the distribution of typical and atypical features within categories.

Hyperfamiliarity for unknown faces after left lateral temporo-occipital venous infarction: a double dissociation with prosopagnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Vuilleumier, Patrik; Mohr, Christine; Valenza, Nathalie; Wetzel, Corinne; Landis, Theodor

2003-04-01

Right hemisphere dominance in face processing is well established and unilateral right inferior temporo-occipital damage can result in prosopagnosia. Here, we describe a 21-year-old right-handed woman with acute impairment in face recognition that selectively concerned unfamiliar faces, following a focal left lateral temporo-occipital venous infarct. She was severely impaired in discerning that unknown people seen in everyday life were unfamiliar, although she had no difficulty recognizing familiar people. Thus, she had no prosopagnosia, but abnormal 'hyperfamiliarity' for unknown faces. Her difficulty was not accompanied by delusions or deficits in discrimination, identification or memory for faces. Standard neuropsychological testing showed that her recognition of familiar faces was entirely normal. By contrast, her sense of personally knowing faces was severely impaired when unknown faces evoked weak signals of familiarity based on spurious cues, to the extent that she would misattribute fame to faces that were unknown but to which she had been incidentally exposed on a prior occasion. Priming experiments also revealed that, unlike normal subjects, she made familiarity judgements without accessing semantic identity representations. Moreover, in face recognition tests, she generally showed bias in that she relied more on right-hemisphere strategies to identify global traits and less on left-hemisphere processes compared with healthy subjects. This case provides novel evidence for a differential contribution of the two hemispheres to face recognition. Hyperfamiliarity for unknown faces might arise from an imbalance between reciprocal hemispheric functions in face recognition, with relative hypoactivation of left hemisphere processes but hyperactivation of right-hemisphere processes for retrieving stored associations about people, linking seen faces to representations of affective and personal relevance. Hence, abnormal bias in attributing some personal meaning to

Short-term Internet search using makes people rely on search engines when facing unknown issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yifan; Wu, Lingdan; Luo, Liang; Zhang, Yifen; Dong, Guangheng

2017-01-01

The Internet search engines, which have powerful search/sort functions and ease of use features, have become an indispensable tool for many individuals. The current study is to test whether the short-term Internet search training can make people more dependent on it. Thirty-one subjects out of forty subjects completed the search training study which included a pre-test, a six-day's training of Internet search, and a post-test. During the pre- and post- tests, subjects were asked to search online the answers to 40 unusual questions, remember the answers and recall them in the scanner. Un-learned questions were randomly presented at the recalling stage in order to elicited search impulse. Comparing to the pre-test, subjects in the post-test reported higher impulse to use search engines to answer un-learned questions. Consistently, subjects showed higher brain activations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex in the post-test than in the pre-test. In addition, there were significant positive correlations self-reported search impulse and brain responses in the frontal areas. The results suggest that a simple six-day's Internet search training can make people dependent on the search tools when facing unknown issues. People are easily dependent on the Internet search engines.

Short-term Internet search using makes people rely on search engines when facing unknown issues.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yifan Wang

Full Text Available The Internet search engines, which have powerful search/sort functions and ease of use features, have become an indispensable tool for many individuals. The current study is to test whether the short-term Internet search training can make people more dependent on it. Thirty-one subjects out of forty subjects completed the search training study which included a pre-test, a six-day's training of Internet search, and a post-test. During the pre- and post- tests, subjects were asked to search online the answers to 40 unusual questions, remember the answers and recall them in the scanner. Un-learned questions were randomly presented at the recalling stage in order to elicited search impulse. Comparing to the pre-test, subjects in the post-test reported higher impulse to use search engines to answer un-learned questions. Consistently, subjects showed higher brain activations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex in the post-test than in the pre-test. In addition, there were significant positive correlations self-reported search impulse and brain responses in the frontal areas. The results suggest that a simple six-day's Internet search training can make people dependent on the search tools when facing unknown issues. People are easily dependent on the Internet search engines.

Predicting protein amidation sites by orchestrating amino acid sequence features

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Zhao, Shuqiu; Yu, Hua; Gong, Xiujun

2017-08-01

Amidation is the fourth major category of post-translational modifications, which plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes. Identifying amidation sites can help us understanding the amidation and recognizing the original reason of many kinds of diseases. But the traditional experimental methods for predicting amidation sites are often time-consuming and expensive. In this study, we propose a computational method for predicting amidation sites by orchestrating amino acid sequence features. Three kinds of feature extraction methods are used to build a feature vector enabling to capture not only the physicochemical properties but also position related information of the amino acids. An extremely randomized trees algorithm is applied to choose the optimal features to remove redundancy and dependence among components of the feature vector by a supervised fashion. Finally the support vector machine classifier is used to label the amidation sites. When tested on an independent data set, it shows that the proposed method performs better than all the previous ones with the prediction accuracy of 0.962 at the Matthew's correlation coefficient of 0.89 and area under curve of 0.964.

PHACES syndrome: a review of eight previously unreported cases with late arterial occlusions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhattacharya, J.J.; Luo, C.B.; Alvarez, H.; Rodesch, G.; Lasjaunias, P.L.; Pongpech, S.

2004-01-01

PHACE and PHACES are acronyms for a syndrome of variable expression comprising posterior cranial fossa malformations, facial haemangiomas, arterial anomalies, aortic coarctation and other cardiac disorders, ocular abnormalities and stenotic arterial disease. We review five girls and three boys aged 1 month-14 years with disorders from this spectrum. Six had large facial haemangiomas but recent reports suggest that small haemangiomas may occur; hence our inclusion of two possible cases. We also focus on the recently recognised feature of progressive intracranial arterial occlusions, present in four of our patients, later than previously recognised, from 4 to 14 years of age. We suggest that many elements of this disorder could reflect an abnormality of cell proliferation and apoptosis. (orig.)

IDENTIFICATION OF BURSTING WATER MASER FEATURES IN ORION KL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirota, Tomoya; Honma, Mareki; Kim, Mi Kyoung; Kobayashi, Hideyuki; Shibata, Katsunori M.; Tsuboi, Masato; Fujisawa, Kenta; Kawaguchi, Noriyuki; Imai, Hiroshi; Omodaka, Toshihiro; Shimoikura, Tomomi; Yonekura, Yoshinori

2011-01-01

In 2011 February, a burst event of the H 2 O maser in Orion KL (Kleinmann-Low object) has started after a 13 year silence. This is the third time such phenomena has been detected in Orion KL, followed by the events in 1979-1985 and 1998. We have carried out astrometric observations of the bursting H 2 O maser features in Orion KL with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), a Japanese very long baseline interferometry network dedicated for astrometry. The total flux of the bursting feature at the local standard of rest (LSR) velocity of 7.58 km s -1 reaches 4.4 x 10 4 Jy in 2011 March. The intensity of the bursting feature is three orders of magnitude larger than that of the same velocity feature in the quiescent phase in 2006. Two months later, another new feature appears at the LSR velocity of 6.95 km s -1 in 2011 May, separated by 12 mas north of the 7.58 km s -1 feature. Thus, the current burst occurs at two spatially different features. The bursting masers are elongated along the northwest-southeast direction as reported in the previous burst in 1998. We determine the absolute positions of the bursting features for the first time ever with a submilliarcsecond (mas) accuracy. Their positions are coincident with the shocked molecular gas called the Orion Compact Ridge. We tentatively detect the absolute proper motions of the bursting features toward the southwest direction. It is most likely that the outflow from the radio source I or another young stellar object interacting with the Compact Ridge is a possible origin of the H 2 O maser burst.

On the use of INS to improve Feature Matching

Science.gov (United States)

Masiero, A.; Guarnieri, A.; Vettore, A.; Pirotti, F.

2014-11-01

The continuous technological improvement of mobile devices opens the frontiers of Mobile Mapping systems to very compact systems, i.e. a smartphone or a tablet. This motivates the development of efficient 3D reconstruction techniques based on the sensors typically embedded in such devices, i.e. imaging sensors, GPS and Inertial Navigation System (INS). Such methods usually exploits photogrammetry techniques (structure from motion) to provide an estimation of the geometry of the scene. Actually, 3D reconstruction techniques (e.g. structure from motion) rely on use of features properly matched in different images to compute the 3D positions of objects by means of triangulation. Hence, correct feature matching is of fundamental importance to ensure good quality 3D reconstructions. Matching methods are based on the appearance of features, that can change as a consequence of variations of camera position and orientation, and environment illumination. For this reason, several methods have been developed in recent years in order to provide feature descriptors robust (ideally invariant) to such variations, e.g. Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), Affine SIFT, Hessian affine and Harris affine detectors, Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER). This work deals with the integration of information provided by the INS in the feature matching procedure: a previously developed navigation algorithm is used to constantly estimate the device position and orientation. Then, such information is exploited to estimate the transformation of feature regions between two camera views. This allows to compare regions from different images but associated to the same feature as seen by the same point of view, hence significantly easing the comparison of feature characteristics and, consequently, improving matching. SIFT-like descriptors are used in order to ensure good matching results in presence of illumination variations and to compensate the approximations related to the estimation

Statistical evolution of quiet-Sun small-scale magnetic features using Sunrise observations

Science.gov (United States)

Anusha, L. S.; Solanki, S. K.; Hirzberger, J.; Feller, A.

2017-02-01

The evolution of small magnetic features in quiet regions of the Sun provides a unique window for probing solar magneto-convection. Here we analyze small-scale magnetic features in the quiet Sun, using the high resolution, seeing-free observations from the Sunrise balloon borne solar observatory. Our aim is to understand the contribution of different physical processes, such as splitting, merging, emergence and cancellation of magnetic fields to the rearrangement, addition and removal of magnetic flux in the photosphere. We have employed a statistical approach for the analysis and the evolution studies are carried out using a feature-tracking technique. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the feature-tracking algorithm that we have newly developed and we present the results of a statistical study of several physical quantities. The results on the fractions of the flux in the emergence, appearance, splitting, merging, disappearance and cancellation qualitatively agrees with other recent studies. To summarize, the total flux gained in unipolar appearance is an order of magnitude larger than the total flux gained in emergence. On the other hand, the bipolar cancellation contributes nearly an equal amount to the loss of magnetic flux as unipolar disappearance. The total flux lost in cancellation is nearly six to eight times larger than the total flux gained in emergence. One big difference between our study and previous similar studies is that, thanks to the higher spatial resolution of Sunrise, we can track features with fluxes as low as 9 × 1014 Mx. This flux is nearly an order of magnitude lower than the smallest fluxes of the features tracked in the highest resolution previous studies based on Hinode data. The area and flux of the magnetic features follow power-law type distribution, while the lifetimes show either power-law or exponential type distribution depending on the exact definitions used to define various birth and death events. We have

Neural Tuning to Low-Level Features of Speech throughout the Perisylvian Cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Berezutskaya, Julia; Freudenburg, Zachary V; Güçlü, Umut; van Gerven, Marcel A J; Ramsey, Nick F

2017-08-16

Despite a large body of research, we continue to lack a detailed account of how auditory processing of continuous speech unfolds in the human brain. Previous research showed the propagation of low-level acoustic features of speech from posterior superior temporal gyrus toward anterior superior temporal gyrus in the human brain (Hullett et al., 2016). In this study, we investigate what happens to these neural representations past the superior temporal gyrus and how they engage higher-level language processing areas such as inferior frontal gyrus. We used low-level sound features to model neural responses to speech outside of the primary auditory cortex. Two complementary imaging techniques were used with human participants (both males and females): electrocorticography (ECoG) and fMRI. Both imaging techniques showed tuning of the perisylvian cortex to low-level speech features. With ECoG, we found evidence of propagation of the temporal features of speech sounds along the ventral pathway of language processing in the brain toward inferior frontal gyrus. Increasingly coarse temporal features of speech spreading from posterior superior temporal cortex toward inferior frontal gyrus were associated with linguistic features such as voice onset time, duration of the formant transitions, and phoneme, syllable, and word boundaries. The present findings provide the groundwork for a comprehensive bottom-up account of speech comprehension in the human brain. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We know that, during natural speech comprehension, a broad network of perisylvian cortical regions is involved in sound and language processing. Here, we investigated the tuning to low-level sound features within these regions using neural responses to a short feature film. We also looked at whether the tuning organization along these brain regions showed any parallel to the hierarchy of language structures in continuous speech. Our results show that low-level speech features propagate throughout the

[Features associated with retinal thickness extension in diabetic macular oedema].

Science.gov (United States)

Razo Blanco-Hernández, Dulce Milagros; Lima-Gómez, Virgilio; García-Rubio, Yatzul Zuhaila

2015-01-01

Clinically significant macular edema has features that are associated with a major risk of visual loss, with thickening that involves the centre of the macula, field 7 or visual deficiency, although it is unknown if these features are related to retinal thickness extension. An observational, analytical, prospective, cross-sectional and open study was conducted. The sample was divided into initial visual acuity ≥0.5, central field thickness, center point thickness, field 7 and macular volume more than the reported 2 standard deviation mean value in eyes without retinopathy. The extension was determined by the number of the central field area equivalent thickening and these features were compared with by Student's t test for independent samples. A total of 199 eyes were included. In eyes with visual acuity of ≥0.5, the mean extension was 2.88±1.68 and 3.2±1.63 in area equivalent in eyes with visual acuity 0.5 (p=0.12). The mean extension in eyes with less than 2 standard deviation of central field thickness, center point thickness, field 7 and macular volume was significantly lower than in eyes with more than 2 standard deviations (1.9±0.93 vs. 4.07±1.49, 2.44±1.47 vs. 3.94±1.52, 1.79±1.07 vs. 3.61±1.57 and 1.6±0.9 vs. 3.9±1.4, respectively, p<0.001). The extension of retinal thickness is related with the anatomical features reported with a greater risk of visual loss, but is not related to initial visual deficiency. Copyright © 2015 Academia Mexicana de Cirugía A.C. Published by Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

Features generated for computational splice-site prediction correspond to functional elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilbur W John

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate selection of splice sites during the splicing of precursors to messenger RNA requires both relatively well-characterized signals at the splice sites and auxiliary signals in the adjacent exons and introns. We previously described a feature generation algorithm (FGA that is capable of achieving high classification accuracy on human 3' splice sites. In this paper, we extend the splice-site prediction to 5' splice sites and explore the generated features for biologically meaningful splicing signals. Results We present examples from the observed features that correspond to known signals, both core signals (including the branch site and pyrimidine tract and auxiliary signals (including GGG triplets and exon splicing enhancers. We present evidence that features identified by FGA include splicing signals not found by other methods. Conclusion Our generated features capture known biological signals in the expected sequence interval flanking splice sites. The method can be easily applied to other species and to similar classification problems, such as tissue-specific regulatory elements, polyadenylation sites, promoters, etc.

Active fault tolerance control of a wind turbine system using an unknown input observer with an actuator fault

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Shanzhi

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a fault tolerant control scheme based on an unknown input observer for a wind turbine system subject to an actuator fault and disturbance. Firstly, an unknown input observer for state estimation and fault detection using a linear parameter varying model is developed. By solving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs and linear matrix equalities (LMEs, the gains of the unknown input observer are obtained. The convergence of the unknown input observer is also analysed with Lyapunov theory. Secondly, using fault estimation, an active fault tolerant controller is applied to a wind turbine system. Finally, a simulation of a wind turbine benchmark with an actuator fault is tested for the proposed method. The simulation results indicate that the proposed FTC scheme is efficient.

Improved features of MARS 1.4 and verification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Won Jae; Chung, Bub Don; Jeong, Jae Jun; Ha, Kwi Seok [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea)

1999-09-01

MARS 1.4 code has been developed as a basic code frame for multi-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis of light water reactor transients. This report describes the newly improved features of MARS 1.4 and their verification results. The new features of MARS 1.4 include the implementation of point kinetics model in the 3D module, the coupled heat structure model, the extension of control functions and input check functions in the 3D module, the implementation of new features of RELAP5/MOD3.2.2 -version, the addition of automatic initialization function for fuel 3-D analysis and the unification of material properties and forcing functions, etc. These features have been implemented in the code in order to extend the code modeling capability and to enhance the user friendliness. Among these features, this report describes the implementation of new features of RELAP5/MOD3.3.3-version such as reflood model and critical heat flux models, etc., the automatic initialization function, the unification of material properties and forcing functions and the other code improvements and error corrections, which were not reported in the previous report. Through the verification calculations, the new features of MARS 1.4 have been verified well implemented in the code. In conclusion, MARS 1.4 code has been developed and verified as implemented in the code. In conclusion, MARS 1.4 code has been developed and verified as a multi-dimensional system thermal-hydraulic analysis tool. And, it can play its role as a basic code frame for the future development of a multi-purpose consolidated code, MARS 2.x, for coupled analysis of multi-dimensional system thermal hydraulics, 3D core kinetics, core CHF and containment as well as for further improvement of thermal-hydraulic and numerical models. 4 refs., 10 figs. (Author)

Pragmatic Language Features of Mothers with the "FMR1" Premutation Are Associated with the Language Outcomes of Adolescents and Young Adults with Fragile X Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Klusek, Jessica; McGrath, Sara E.; Abbeduto, Leonard; Roberts, Jane E.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Pragmatic language difficulties have been documented as part of the FMR1 premutation phenotype, yet the interplay between these features in mothers and the language outcomes of their children with fragile X syndrome is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether pragmatic language difficulties in mothers with the "FMR1"…

Identifying significant environmental features using feature recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-01

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

Feature-based attention: it is all bottom-up priming.

Science.gov (United States)

Theeuwes, Jan

2013-10-19

Feature-based attention (FBA) enhances the representation of image characteristics throughout the visual field, a mechanism that is particularly useful when searching for a specific stimulus feature. Even though most theories of visual search implicitly or explicitly assume that FBA is under top-down control, we argue that the role of top-down processing in FBA may be limited. Our review of the literature indicates that all behavioural and neuro-imaging studies investigating FBA suffer from the shortcoming that they cannot rule out an effect of priming. The mere attending to a feature enhances the mandatory processing of that feature across the visual field, an effect that is likely to occur in an automatic, bottom-up way. Studies that have investigated the feasibility of FBA by means of cueing paradigms suggest that the role of top-down processing in FBA is limited (e.g. prepare for red). Instead, the actual processing of the stimulus is needed to cause the mandatory tuning of responses throughout the visual field. We conclude that it is likely that all FBA effects reported previously are the result of bottom-up priming.

HEART TRANSPLANTATION IN PATIENTS WITH PREVIOUS OPEN HEART SURGERY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Sh. Saitgareev

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Heart Transplantation (HTx to date remains the most effective and radical method of treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure. The defi cit of donor hearts is forcing to resort increasingly to the use of different longterm mechanical circulatory support systems, including as a «bridge» to the follow-up HTx. According to the ISHLT Registry the number of recipients underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery increased from 40% in the period from 2004 to 2008 to 49.6% for the period from 2009 to 2015. HTx performed in repeated patients, on the one hand, involves considerable technical diffi culties and high risks; on the other hand, there is often no alternative medical intervention to HTx, and if not dictated by absolute contradictions the denial of the surgery is equivalent to 100% mortality. This review summarizes the results of a number of published studies aimed at understanding the immediate and late results of HTx in patients, previously underwent open heart surgery. The effect of resternotomy during HTx and that of the specifi c features associated with its implementation in recipients previously operated on open heart, and its effects on the immediate and long-term survival were considered in this review. Results of studies analyzing the risk factors for perioperative complications in repeated recipients were also demonstrated. Separately, HTx risks after implantation of prolonged mechanical circulatory support systems were examined. The literature does not allow to clearly defi ning the impact factor of earlier performed open heart surgery on the course of perioperative period and on the prognosis of survival in recipients who underwent HTx. On the other hand, subject to the regular fl ow of HTx and the perioperative period the risks in this clinical situation are justifi ed as a long-term prognosis of recipients previously conducted open heart surgery and are comparable to those of patients who underwent primary HTx. Studies

Learning deep features with adaptive triplet loss for person reidentification

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhiqiang; Sang, Nong; Chen, Kezhou; Gao, Changxin; Wang, Ruolin

2018-03-01

Person reidentification (re-id) aims to match a specified person across non-overlapping cameras, which remains a very challenging problem. While previous methods mostly focus on feature extraction or metric learning, this paper makes the attempt in jointly learning both the global full-body and local body-parts features of the input persons with a multichannel convolutional neural network (CNN) model, which is trained by an adaptive triplet loss function that serves to minimize the distance between the same person and maximize the distance between different persons. The experimental results show that our approach achieves very promising results on the large-scale Market-1501 and DukeMTMC-reID datasets.

Clinical features in patients with long-lasting macrophagic myofasciitis

OpenAIRE

Muriel eRIGOLET; Jessie eAOUIZERATE; Jessie eAOUIZERATE; Maryline eCOUETTE; Nilusha eTHANGARAJAH; Nilusha eTHANGARAJAH; Mehdi eAOUN-SEBAITI; Romain Kroum GHERARDI; Romain Kroum GHERARDI; Romain Kroum GHERARDI; Josette eCADUSSEAU; Josette eCADUSSEAU; Francois Jerome eAUTHIER; Francois Jerome eAUTHIER; Francois Jerome eAUTHIER

2014-01-01

Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is an emerging condition characterized by specific muscle lesions assessing abnormal long-term persistence of aluminium hydroxide within macrophages at the site of previous immunization. Affected patients usually are middle-aged adults, mainly presenting with diffuse arthromyalgias, chronic fatigue, and marked cognitive deficits, not related to pain, fatigue or depression. Clinical features usually correspond to that observed in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic ...

Clinical Features in Patients with Long-Lasting Macrophagic Myofasciitis

OpenAIRE

Rigolet, Muriel; Aouizerate, Jessie; Couette, Maryline; Ragunathan-Thangarajah, Nilusha; Aoun-Sebaiti, Mehdi; Gherardi, Romain Kroum; Cadusseau, Josette; Authier, François Jérôme

2014-01-01

Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is an emerging condition characterized by specific muscle lesions assessing abnormal long-term persistence of aluminum hydroxide within macrophages at the site of previous immunization. Affected patients usually are middle-aged adults, mainly presenting with diffuse arthromyalgias, chronic fatigue, and marked cognitive deficits, not related to pain, fatigue, or depression. Clinical features usually correspond to that observed in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic ...

Algorithms for Rapidly Dispersing Robot Swarms in Unknown Environments

OpenAIRE

Hsiang, Tien-Ruey; Arkin, Esther M.; Bender, Michael; Fekete, Sandor P.; Mitchell, Joseph S. B.

2002-01-01

We develop and analyze algorithms for dispersing a swarm of primitive robots in an unknown environment, R. The primary objective is to minimize the makespan, that is, the time to fill the entire region. An environment is composed of pixels that form a connected subset of the integer grid. There is at most one robot per pixel and robots move horizontally or vertically at unit speed. Robots enter R by means of k>=1 door pixels Robots are primitive finite automata, only having local communicatio...

The 1985 central chile earthquake: a repeat of previous great earthquakes in the region?

Science.gov (United States)

Comte, D; Eisenberg, A; Lorca, E; Pardo, M; Ponce, L; Saragoni, R; Singh, S K; Suárez, G

1986-07-25

A great earthquake (surface-wave magnitude, 7.8) occurred along the coast of central Chile on 3 March 1985, causing heavy damage to coastal towns. Intense foreshock activity near the epicenter of the main shock occurred for 11 days before the earthquake. The aftershocks of the 1985 earthquake define a rupture area of 170 by 110 square kilometers. The earthquake was forecast on the basis of the nearly constant repeat time (83 +/- 9 years) of great earthquakes in this region. An analysis of previous earthquakes suggests that the rupture lengths of great shocks in the region vary by a factor of about 3. The nearly constant repeat time and variable rupture lengths cannot be reconciled with time- or slip-predictable models of earthquake recurrence. The great earthquakes in the region seem to involve a variable rupture mode and yet, for unknown reasons, remain periodic. Historical data suggest that the region south of the 1985 rupture zone should now be considered a gap of high seismic potential that may rupture in a great earthquake in the next few tens of years.

A previously unreported association between Nance-Horan syndrome and spontaneous dental abscesses.

Science.gov (United States)

Hibbert, Sally

2005-02-01

Atypical dentofacial structures may be the first indicator of other anomalies linked to a syndrome. This case describes the management of a 9-year-old girl referred for the routine management of supernumerary teeth. The anomalous form of her teeth, together with multiple supernumerary units and a history of congenital cataracts, were suggestive of a diagnosis of Nance-Horan syndrome. This is an X-linked disorder, in which females usually demonstrate mild expression; this case was unusual in respect to the marked phenotype expressed. Unusually, the girl developed 2 spontaneous abscesses of her noncarious upper incisor teeth; a feature never previously described in this syndrome. This report details the patient's dental management and discusses the possible pathogenesis of the dental abscesses, together with the genetic implications of this syndrome.

The energy equation with three unknowns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schifano, Fabio; Moriconi, Daniele

2008-01-01

This article discusses the alarming situation of energy in Italy as this country depends at 82 per cent on its imports (oil, natural gas and electricity), a dependence which could even increase. The authors first propose overviews of the situation regarding oil, natural gas and electric power (origins of imports, role of Italian companies, status of infrastructures), and also briefly of renewable energies. They recall the history of the use of nuclear energy: Italy has been one of the first country to use nuclear energy to produce electric power, but a referendum organised after Chernobyl resulted in phasing out nuclear. Then, the authors discuss perspectives associated with three main strategic unknowns: an increase of energy dependence with respect to hydrocarbons and to foreign nuclear power, a supply insecurity due to a dependence concentrated on a small number of countries (notably as far as natural gas is concerned), and an increasing interdependence between economic growth and sustainable development (the reduction of greenhouse emissions is a prevailing parameter for future energetic choices)

Broadly reactive pan-paramyxovirus reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis for the detection of Canine distemper virus in a case of canine meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology

Science.gov (United States)

Schatzberg, Scott J.; Li, Qiang; Porter, Brian F.; Barber, Renee M.; Claiborne, Mary Kate; Levine, Jonathan M.; Levine, Gwendolyn J.; Israel, Sarah K.; Young, Benjamin D.; Kiupel, Matti; Greene, Craig; Ruone, Susan; Anderson, Larry; Tong, Suxiang

2016-01-01

Despite the immunologic protection associated with routine vaccination protocols, Canine distemper virus (CDV) remains an important pathogen of dogs. Antemortem diagnosis of systemic CDV infection may be made by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or immunohistochemical testing for CDV antigen; central nervous system infection often requires postmortem confirmation via histopathology and immunohistochemistry. An 8-month-old intact male French Bulldog previously vaccinated for CDV presented with multifocal neurologic signs. Based on clinical and postmortem findings, the dog’s disease was categorized as a meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology. Broadly reactive, pan-paramyxovirus RT-PCR using consensus-degenerate hybrid oligonucleotide primers, combined with sequence analysis, identified CDV amplicons in the dog’s brain. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of CDV antigens, and a specific CDV RT-PCR based on the phosphoprotein gene identified a wild-type versus vaccinal virus strain. This case illustrates the utility of broadly reactive PCR and sequence analysis for the identification of pathogens in diseases with unknown etiology. PMID:19901287

Unknown Aspects of Self-Assembly of PbS Microscale Superstructures

Science.gov (United States)

Querejeta-Fernández, Ana; Hernández-Garrido, Juan C.; Yang, Hengxi; Zhou, Yunlong; Varela, Aurea; Parras, Marina; Calvino-Gámez, José J.; González-Calbet, Jose M.; Green, Peter F.; Kotov, Nicholas A.

2012-01-01

A lot of interesting and sophisticated examples of nanoparticle (NP) self-assembly (SA) are known. From both fundamental and technological standpoints this field requires advancements in three principle directions: a) understanding the mechanism and driving forces of three-dimensional (3D) SA with both nano- and micro-levels of organization; b) understanding of disassembly/deconstruction processes; and c) finding synthetic methods of assembly into continuous superstructures without insulating barriers. From this perspective, we investigated the formation of well-known star-like PbS superstructures and found a number of previously unknown or overlooked aspects that can advance the knowledge of NP self-assembly in these three directions. The primary one is that the formation of large seemingly monocrystalline PbS superstructures with multiple levels of octahedral symmetry can be explained only by SA of small octahedral NPs. We found five distinct periods in the formation PbS hyperbranched stars: 1) nucleation of early PbS NPs with an average diameter of 31 nm; 2) assembly into 100–500 nm octahedral mesocrystals; 3) assembly into 1000–2500 nm hyperbranched stars; 4) assembly and ionic recrystallization into six-arm rods accompanied by disappearance of fine nanoscale structure; 5) deconstruction into rods and cubooctahedral NPs. The switches in assembly patterns between the periods occur due to variable dominance of pattern–determining forces that include vander Waals and electrostatic (charge-charge, dipole-dipole, and polarization) interactions. The superstructure deconstruction is triggered by chemical changes in the deep eutectic solvent (DES) used as the media. PbS superstructures can be excellent models for fundamental studies of nanoscale organization and SA manufacturing of (opto)electronics and energy harvesting devices which require organization of PbS components at multiple scales. PMID:22515512

RSS-based localization of isotropically decaying source with unknown power and pathloss factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Shunyuan; Sun, Li; Ding, Zhiguo

2016-01-01

This paper addresses the localization of an isotropically decaying source based on the received signal strength (RSS) measurements that are collected from nearby active sensors that are position-known and wirelessly connected, and it propose a novel iterative algorithm for RSS-based source localization in order to improve the location accuracy and realize real-time location and automatic monitoring for hospital patients and medical equipment in the smart hospital. In particular, we consider the general case where the source power and pathloss factor are both unknown. For such a source localization problem, we propose an iterative algorithm, in which the unknown source position and two other unknown parameters (i.e. the source power and pathloss factor) are estimated in an alternating way based on each other, with our proposed sub-optimum initial estimate on source position obtained based on the RSS measurements that are collected from a few (closest) active sensors with largest RSS values. Analysis and simulation study show that our proposed iterative algorithm guarantees globally convergence to the least-squares (LS) solution, where for our suitably assumed independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) zero-mean Gaussian RSS measurement errors the converged localization performance achieves the optimum that corresponds to the Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB).

Problems of determination of principle of psychological profile of unknown criminal person in investigational activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galina Getman

2017-03-01

By the author of the article of analysis different determinations of «psychological profile of unknown criminal person» were subjected. They are set positive lines and separate positions that in opinion of author are not expedient and important are subjected to criticism. That is why, the author points in conclusions the argued positions in relation to the necessity of the use of psychological profile of  unknown criminal person during investigation of criminal realizations in activity of investigator.

Spectroscopy of the 4.6 - 4.7 micron interstellar absorption features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geballe, T.R.

1984-01-01

Perhaps the most successful application of spectroscopy to the study of interstellar solid state infrared absorption features has been in the case of the previously unidentified feature near 4.6 μm first seen in absorption toward the protostar W33A. Whereas the original spectrum of this object, obtained at a resolving power of 70, revealed only a single deep absorption feature, a later spectrum, using a single channel grating spectrometer at ten times the resolving power, indicates that it is made up of three separate components. The central narrow absorption feature at 2140 cm -1 (4.67 μm) coincides in wavelength precisely with that of solid CO. It and its unresolved shoulder at just lower frequency have now been seen quite commonly in absorption toward other protostars. The broad absorption seen in W33A at 2165 cm -1 (4.62 μm) is apparently much less common. (author)

Circuit realization, chaos synchronization and estimation of parameters of a hyperchaotic system with unknown parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Elsonbaty

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this article, the adaptive chaos synchronization technique is implemented by an electronic circuit and applied to the hyperchaotic system proposed by Chen et al. We consider the more realistic and practical case where all the parameters of the master system are unknowns. We propose and implement an electronic circuit that performs the estimation of the unknown parameters and the updating of the parameters of the slave system automatically, and hence it achieves the synchronization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to implement a circuit that estimates the values of the unknown parameters of chaotic system and achieves synchronization. The proposed circuit has a variety of suitable real applications related to chaos encryption and cryptography. The outputs of the implemented circuits and numerical simulation results are shown to view the performance of the synchronized system and the proposed circuit.

An Evidence-Based Review Literature About Risk Indicators and Management of Unknown-Origin Xerostomia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farzaneh Agha-hosseini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: This evidence-based article reviews risk indicators and management of unknown-origin xerostomia. Xerostomia and hyposalivation refer to different aspects of dry mouth. Xerostomia is a subjective sensation of dry mouth, whilst hyposalivation is defined as an objective assessment of reduced salivary flow rate. About 30% of the elderly (65 years and older experience xerostomia and hyposalivation. Structural and functional factors, or both may lead to salivary gland dysfunction.Study Selection: The EBM literature search was conducted by using the medical literature database MEDLINE via PubMed and OvidMedline search engines. Results were limited to English language articles (1965 to present including clinical trials (CT, randomized controlled trials (RCT, systematic reviews and review articles. Case control or cohort studies were included for the etiology.Results: Neuropathic etiology such as localized oral alteration of thermal sensations, saliva composition change (for example higher levels of K, Cl, Ca, IgA, amylase, calcium, PTH and cortisol, lower levels of estrogen and progesterone, smaller salivary gland size, and illnesses such as lichen planus, are risk indicators for unknown-origin xerostomia. The management is palliative and preventative. Management of symptoms includes drug administration (systemic secretogogues, saliva substitutes and bile secretion-stimulator, night guard, diet and habit modifications. Other managements may be indicated to treat adverse effects.Conclusion: Neuropathic etiology, saliva composition change, smaller salivary gland size, and illnesses such as oral lichen planus can be suggestive causes for unknown-origin xerostomia. However, longitudinal studies will be important to elucidate the causes of unknown-origin xerostomia.

Spatial-temporal features of thermal images for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome detection

Science.gov (United States)

Estupinan Roldan, Kevin; Ortega Piedrahita, Marco A.; Benitez, Hernan D.

2014-02-01

Disorders associated with repeated trauma account for about 60% of all occupational illnesses, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) being the most consulted today. Infrared Thermography (IT) has come to play an important role in the field of medicine. IT is non-invasive and detects diseases based on measuring temperature variations. IT represents a possible alternative to prevalent methods for diagnosis of CTS (i.e. nerve conduction studies and electromiography). This work presents a set of spatial-temporal features extracted from thermal images taken in healthy and ill patients. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers test this feature space with Leave One Out (LOO) validation error. The results of the proposed approach show linear separability and lower validation errors when compared to features used in previous works that do not account for temperature spatial variability.

Topographic and sedimentary features in the Yap subduction zone and their implications for the Caroline Ridge subduction

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Dongdong; Zhang, Zhengyi; Bai, Yongliang; Fan, Jianke; Zhang, Guangxu

2018-01-01

The Yap subduction zone in the western Pacific presents some unique features compared to normal intra-oceanic subduction zones such as the subduction of an oceanic plateau. However, due to the relative paucity of geophysical data, the detailed structure remains unknown in this area. In this study, we present the latest high-quality swath bathymetry and multi-channel seismic data acquired synchronously in 2015 across the Yap subduction zone. The topographic and sedimentary features are intensively investigated and a modified evolutionary model of the Yap subduction zone is proposed. The two-stage evolution of the Parece Vela Basin (PVB) produced fabrics that are N-S trending and NW-SE trending. Our seismic data clearly reveal landslide deposits at the upper slope break of the forearc, to the north of the Yap Island, which was identified as the fault notch denoting a lithological boundary in previous work. The swath bathymetry and seismic profile reveal detailed horst and graben structures, including a crescent-shaped fault zone near the contact between the Yap Trench and the Caroline Ridge. A simple geometric model is proposed to explain the structure formation, indicating that the higher topography of the Caroline Ridge resulted in enhanced bending-related extension. A seismic angular unconformity (named R1) is identified in the Sorol Trough, marking the onset of rifting in the trough. Based on the sequence thickness and deposition rate by Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), it is deduced that the Sorol Trough formed at 10 Ma or even earlier. A modified model for the Yap subduction zone evolution is proposed, incorporating three major tectonic events: the proto-Yap Arc rupture in the Oligocene, the collision of the Caroline Ridge and the Yap Trench in the late Oligocene or middle Miocene, and the onset of the Sorol Trough rifting in the late Miocene.

Two previously unknown Phytophthora species associated with brown rot of Pomelo (Citrus grandis fruits in Vietnam.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Puglisi

Full Text Available Two distinct Phytophthora taxa were found to be associated with brown rot of pomelo (Citrus grandis, a new disease of this ancestral Citrus species, in the Vinh Long province, Mekong River Delta area, southern Vietnam. On the basis of morphological characters and using the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the rDNA and the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI as barcode genes, one of the two taxa was provisionally named as Phytophthora sp. prodigiosa, being closely related to but distinct from P. insolita, a species in Phytophthora Clade 9, while the other one, was closely related to but distinct from the Clade 2 species P. meadii and was informally designated as Phytophthora sp. mekongensis. Isolates of P. sp. prodigiosa and P. sp. mekongensis were also obtained from necrotic fibrous roots of Volkamer lemon (C. volkameriana rootstocks grafted with 'King' mandarin (Citrus nobilis and from trees of pomelo, respectively, in other provinces of the Mekong River Delta, indicating a widespread occurrence of both Phytophthora species in this citrus-growing area. Koch's postulates were fulfilled via pathogenicity tests on fruits of various Citrus species, including pomelo, grapefruit (Citrus x paradisi, sweet orange (Citrus x sinensis and bergamot (Citrus x bergamia as well as on the rootstock of 2-year-old trees of pomelo and sweet orange on 'Carrizo' citrange (C. sinensis 'Washington Navel' x Poncirus trifoliata. This is the first report of a Phytophthora species from Clade 2 other than P. citricola and P. citrophthora as causal agent of fruit brown rot of Citrus worldwide and the first report of P. insolita complex in Vietnam. Results indicate that likely Vietnam is still an unexplored reservoir of Phytophthora diversity.

Two previously unknown Phytophthora species associated with brown rot of Pomelo (Citrus grandis) fruits in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Puglisi, Ivana; De Patrizio, Alessandro; Schena, Leonardo; Jung, Thomas; Evoli, Maria; Pane, Antonella; Van Hoa, Nguyen; Van Tri, Mai; Wright, Sandra; Ramstedt, Mauritz; Olsson, Christer; Faedda, Roberto; Magnano di San Lio, Gaetano; Cacciola, Santa Olga

2017-01-01

Two distinct Phytophthora taxa were found to be associated with brown rot of pomelo (Citrus grandis), a new disease of this ancestral Citrus species, in the Vinh Long province, Mekong River Delta area, southern Vietnam. On the basis of morphological characters and using the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the rDNA and the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) as barcode genes, one of the two taxa was provisionally named as Phytophthora sp. prodigiosa, being closely related to but distinct from P. insolita, a species in Phytophthora Clade 9, while the other one, was closely related to but distinct from the Clade 2 species P. meadii and was informally designated as Phytophthora sp. mekongensis. Isolates of P. sp. prodigiosa and P. sp. mekongensis were also obtained from necrotic fibrous roots of Volkamer lemon (C. volkameriana) rootstocks grafted with 'King' mandarin (Citrus nobilis) and from trees of pomelo, respectively, in other provinces of the Mekong River Delta, indicating a widespread occurrence of both Phytophthora species in this citrus-growing area. Koch's postulates were fulfilled via pathogenicity tests on fruits of various Citrus species, including pomelo, grapefruit (Citrus x paradisi), sweet orange (Citrus x sinensis) and bergamot (Citrus x bergamia) as well as on the rootstock of 2-year-old trees of pomelo and sweet orange on 'Carrizo' citrange (C. sinensis 'Washington Navel' x Poncirus trifoliata). This is the first report of a Phytophthora species from Clade 2 other than P. citricola and P. citrophthora as causal agent of fruit brown rot of Citrus worldwide and the first report of P. insolita complex in Vietnam. Results indicate that likely Vietnam is still an unexplored reservoir of Phytophthora diversity.

Vaginal Masses: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features with Pathologic Correlation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elsayes, K.M.; Narra, V.R.; Dillman, J.R.; Velcheti, V.; Hameed, O.; Tongdee, R.; Menias, C.O.

2007-01-01

The detection of vaginal lesions has increased with the expanding use of cross-sectional imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - with its high-contrast resolution and multiplanar capabilities - is often useful for characterizing vaginal masses. Vaginal masses can be classified as congenital, inflammatory, cystic (benign), and neoplastic (benign or malignant) in etiology. Recognition of the typical MR imaging features of such lesions is important because it often determines the treatment approach and may obviate surgery. Finally, vaginal MR imaging can be used to evaluate post-treatment changes related to previous surgery and radiation therapy. In this article, we will review pertinent vaginal anatomy, vaginal and pelvic MRI technique, and the MRI features of a variety of vaginal lesions with pathological correlation

Predicting hot spots in protein interfaces based on protrusion index, pseudo hydrophobicity and electron-ion interaction pseudopotential features

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Junfeng; Yue, Zhenyu; Di, Yunqiang; Zhu, Xiaolei; Zheng, Chun-Hou

2016-01-01

The identification of hot spots, a small subset of protein interfaces that accounts for the majority of binding free energy, is becoming more important for the research of drug design and cancer development. Based on our previous methods (APIS and KFC2), here we proposed a novel hot spot prediction method. For each hot spot residue, we firstly constructed a wide variety of 108 sequence, structural, and neighborhood features to characterize potential hot spot residues, including conventional ones and new one (pseudo hydrophobicity) exploited in this study. We then selected 3 top-ranking features that contribute the most in the classification by a two-step feature selection process consisting of minimal-redundancy-maximal-relevance algorithm and an exhaustive search method. We used support vector machines to build our final prediction model. When testing our model on an independent test set, our method showed the highest F1-score of 0.70 and MCC of 0.46 comparing with the existing state-of-the-art hot spot prediction methods. Our results indicate that these features are more effective than the conventional features considered previously, and that the combination of our and traditional features may support the creation of a discriminative feature set for efficient prediction of hot spots in protein interfaces. PMID:26934646

Role of early visual cortex in trans-saccadic memory of object features.

Science.gov (United States)

Malik, Pankhuri; Dessing, Joost C; Crawford, J Douglas

2015-08-01

Early visual cortex (EVC) participates in visual feature memory and the updating of remembered locations across saccades, but its role in the trans-saccadic integration of object features is unknown. We hypothesized that if EVC is involved in updating object features relative to gaze, feature memory should be disrupted when saccades remap an object representation into a simultaneously perturbed EVC site. To test this, we applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over functional magnetic resonance imaging-localized EVC clusters corresponding to the bottom left/right visual quadrants (VQs). During experiments, these VQs were probed psychophysically by briefly presenting a central object (Gabor patch) while subjects fixated gaze to the right or left (and above). After a short memory interval, participants were required to detect the relative change in orientation of a re-presented test object at the same spatial location. Participants either sustained fixation during the memory interval (fixation task) or made a horizontal saccade that either maintained or reversed the VQ of the object (saccade task). Three TMS pulses (coinciding with the pre-, peri-, and postsaccade intervals) were applied to the left or right EVC. This had no effect when (a) fixation was maintained, (b) saccades kept the object in the same VQ, or (c) the EVC quadrant corresponding to the first object was stimulated. However, as predicted, TMS reduced performance when saccades (especially larger saccades) crossed the remembered object location and brought it into the VQ corresponding to the TMS site. This suppression effect was statistically significant for leftward saccades and followed a weaker trend for rightward saccades. These causal results are consistent with the idea that EVC is involved in the gaze-centered updating of object features for trans-saccadic memory and perception.

Structure of a Trypanosoma brucei α/β-hydrolase fold protein with unknown function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merritt, Ethan A.; Holmes, Margaret; Buckner, Frederick S.; Van Voorhis, Wesley C.; Quartly, Erin; Phizicky, Eric M.; Lauricella, Angela; Luft, Joseph; DeTitta, George; Neely, Helen; Zucker, Frank; Hol, Wim G. J.

2008-01-01

T. brucei gene Tb10.6k15.0140 codes for an α/β-hydrolase fold protein of unknown function. The 2.2 Å crystal structure shows that members of this sequence family retain a conserved Ser residue at the expected site of a catalytic nucleophile, but that trypanosomatid sequences lack structural homologs for the other expected residues of the catalytic triad. The structure of a structural genomics target protein, Tbru020260AAA from Trypanosoma brucei, has been determined to a resolution of 2.2 Å using multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction at the Se K edge. This protein belongs to Pfam sequence family PF08538 and is only distantly related to previously studied members of the α/β-hydrolase fold family. Structural superposition onto representative α/β-hydrolase fold proteins of known function indicates that a possible catalytic nucleophile, Ser116 in the T. brucei protein, lies at the expected location. However, the present structure and by extension the other trypanosomatid members of this sequence family have neither sequence nor structural similarity at the location of other active-site residues typical for proteins with this fold. Together with the presence of an additional domain between strands β6 and β7 that is conserved in trypanosomatid genomes, this suggests that the function of these homologs has diverged from other members of the fold family

On application of kernel PCA for generating stimulus features for fMRI during continuous music listening.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsatsishvili, Valeri; Burunat, Iballa; Cong, Fengyu; Toiviainen, Petri; Alluri, Vinoo; Ristaniemi, Tapani

2018-06-01

There has been growing interest towards naturalistic neuroimaging experiments, which deepen our understanding of how human brain processes and integrates incoming streams of multifaceted sensory information, as commonly occurs in real world. Music is a good example of such complex continuous phenomenon. In a few recent fMRI studies examining neural correlates of music in continuous listening settings, multiple perceptual attributes of music stimulus were represented by a set of high-level features, produced as the linear combination of the acoustic descriptors computationally extracted from the stimulus audio. NEW METHOD: fMRI data from naturalistic music listening experiment were employed here. Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) was applied to acoustic descriptors extracted from the stimulus audio to generate a set of nonlinear stimulus features. Subsequently, perceptual and neural correlates of the generated high-level features were examined. The generated features captured musical percepts that were hidden from the linear PCA features, namely Rhythmic Complexity and Event Synchronicity. Neural correlates of the new features revealed activations associated to processing of complex rhythms, including auditory, motor, and frontal areas. Results were compared with the findings in the previously published study, which analyzed the same fMRI data but applied linear PCA for generating stimulus features. To enable comparison of the results, methodology for finding stimulus-driven functional maps was adopted from the previous study. Exploiting nonlinear relationships among acoustic descriptors can lead to the novel high-level stimulus features, which can in turn reveal new brain structures involved in music processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robust adaptive fuzzy neural tracking control for a class of unknown ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy neural controller (AFNC) for a class of unknown chaotic systems is proposed. The proposed AFNC is comprised of a fuzzy neural controller and a robust controller. The fuzzy neural controller including a fuzzy neural network identifier (FNNI) is the principal controller. The FNNI is used for ...

Cancer-Specific and All-Cause Mortality in Kidney Transplant Recipients With and Without Previous Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Viecelli, Andrea K; Lim, Wai H; Macaskill, Petra; Chapman, Jeremy R; Craig, Jonathan C; Clayton, Philip; Cohney, Solomon; Carroll, Robert; Wong, Germaine

2015-12-01

For dialysis patients with a cancer history, a period of surveillance is generally recommended before listing for transplantation. However, the outcomes of patients with cancer recurrence and/or a second primary cancer after transplantation are unknown. To determine the prognosis of kidney transplant recipients who developed cancer after transplantation and whether this varied with cancer types (first cancer, recurrence, second primary cancer). Using data from the Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, we compared the cancer-specific and all-cause mortality among recipients with different cancer types using adjusted Cox proportional hazard models. Of the 21,415 recipients transplanted between 1965 and 2012, 3% (651 of 21,415) had a previous cancer history. A total of 2840 (13%) recipients developed cancer after the first transplant, of whom 2760 (97.2%) developed a first cancer, 23 (0.8%) experienced cancer recurrence, and 57 (2%) developed a second primary cancer. There were no significant differences in the risks of cancer-specific and all-cause mortality between recipients who developed their first cancer after transplant, those with cancer recurrence (adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs], 0.79; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.38-1.67; P = 0.54 and aHRs, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.45-1.66; P = 0.66, respectively) and recipients who developed a second primary cancer after transplantation (aHRs, 1.01; 95%CI, 0.63-1.62; P = 0.95 and aHRs, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.79-1.69; P = 0.45, respectively). Among patients with a previous history of malignancy, recurrent and second primary cancers are infrequent after renal transplantation. A history of previous malignancy does not have an additive effect on the cancer-specific and overall survival of kidney transplant recipients who develop cancer.

3D Fourier synthesis of a new X-ray picture identical in projection to a previous picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlsson, P.E.

1993-01-01

A central problem in diagnostic radiology is to compare a new X-ray picture with a previous picture and from this comparison be able to decide if anatomical changes have occurred in the patient or not. It is of primary interest that these pictures are identical in projection. If not it is difficult to decide with confidence if differences between the pictures are due to anatomical changes or differences in their projection geometry. In this thesis we present a non invasive method that makes it possible to find the relative changes in the projection geometry between the exposure of a previous picture and a new picture. The method presented is based on the projection slice theorem (central section theorem). Instead of an elaborate search for a single new picture a pre-planned set of pictures are exposed from a circular orbit above the patient. By using 3D Fourier transform techniques we are able to synthesize a new X-ray picture from this set of pictures that is identical in projection to the previous one. The method has certain limits. Those are as follows: *The X-ray focus position must always be at a fixed distance from the image plane. *The object may only be translated parallel to the image plane and rotated around axes perpendicular to this plane. Under those restrictions, we may treat divergent projection pictures as if they are generated by a parallel projection of a scaled object. The unknown rotation and translation of the object in the previous case are both retrieved in two different procedures and compensated for. Experiments on synthetic data has proved that the method is working even in the presence of severe noise

Selective angiographic diagnosis of unknown reason gastrointestinal hemorrhage: correlation with pathology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xi Jiayuan; Lu Liang; Deng Gang

2001-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic value of selective angiography for unknown reason gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Methods: 32 patients with acute or chronic gastrointestinal recurrent hemorrhage were examined. Among them, 26 patients had upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage and 6 with inferior gastrointestinal hemorrhage. All patients were under gone DSA and/or Puck angiography with Seldinger's technique. Results: The accuracy of localization was 84.38% (27/32) and the coincident rates with the operation or pathology was 78.95%(15/19). In all of patients, tumor of 9 case were shown and 15 cases of vascular diseases, namely, 9 with vascular malformation, 2 with small intestinal aneurysm, 3 with arteriosclerosis and 1 with broken gallbladder aneurysm; 3 cases of ulcer or nonspecific inflammation and 5 cases were negative. 23 cases (71.87%) showed the direct hemorrhagic sign, namely the contrast media extra vacation. Conclusions: Selective angiography is very helpful for determining the location and the character of unknown reasoned acute or chronic gastrointestinal hemorrhage, especially for the hemorrhage of the small intestine and biliary tracts

Neural tuning to low-level features of speech throughout the perisylvian cortex

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berezutskaya, Y.; Freudenburg, Z.V.; Güçlü, U.; Gerven, M.A.J. van; Ramsey, N.F.

2017-01-01

Despite a large body of research, we continue to lack a detailed account of how auditory processing of continuous speech unfolds in the human brain. Previous research showed the propagation of low-level acoustic features of speech from posterior superior temporal gyrus towards anterior superior

Neural tuning to low-level features of speech throughout the perisylvian cortex

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berezutskaya, Julia; Freudenburg, Zachary V.; Güçlü, Umut; van Gerven, Marcel A.J.; Ramsey, Nick F.

2017-01-01

Despite a large body of research, we continue to lack a detailed account of how auditory processing of continuous speech unfolds in the human brain. Previous research showed the propagation of low-level acoustic features of speech from posterior superior temporal gyrus toward anterior superior

Evaluation of EEG Features in Decoding Individual Finger Movements from One Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ran Xiao

2013-01-01

Full Text Available With the advancements in modern signal processing techniques, the field of brain-computer interface (BCI is progressing fast towards noninvasiveness. One challenge still impeding these developments is the limited number of features, especially movement-related features, available to generate control signals for noninvasive BCIs. A few recent studies investigated several movement-related features, such as spectral features in electrocorticography (ECoG data obtained through a spectral principal component analysis (PCA and direct use of EEG temporal data, and demonstrated the decoding of individual fingers. The present paper evaluated multiple movement-related features under the same task, that is, discriminating individual fingers from one hand using noninvasive EEG. The present results demonstrate the existence of a broadband feature in EEG to discriminate individual fingers, which has only been identified previously in ECoG. It further shows that multiple spectral features obtained from the spectral PCA yield an average decoding accuracy of 45.2%, which is significantly higher than the guess level (P<0.05 and other features investigated (P<0.05, including EEG spectral power changes in alpha and beta bands and EEG temporal data. The decoding of individual fingers using noninvasive EEG is promising to improve number of features for control, which can facilitate the development of noninvasive BCI applications with rich complexity.

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

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2010-01-01

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

Generic features of Einstein-Aether black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamaki, Takashi; Miyamoto, Umpei

2008-01-01

We reconsider spherically symmetric black hole solutions in Einstein-Aether theory with the condition that this theory has identical parametrized post-Newtonian parameters as those for general relativity, which is the main difference from the previous research. In contrast with previous study, we allow superluminal propagation of a spin-0 Aether-gravity wave mode. As a result, we obtain black holes having a spin-0 'horizon' inside an event horizon. We allow a singularity at a spin-0 horizon since it is concealed by the event horizon. If we allow such a configuration, the kinetic term of the Aether field can be large enough for black holes to be significantly different from Schwarzschild black holes with respect to Arnowitt-Deser-Misner mass, innermost stable circular orbit, Hawking temperature, and so on. We also discuss whether or not the above features can be seen in more generic vector-tensor theories

Clinical features of measles pneumonia in adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Hiroshi; Honma, Shin-ichi; Yamagishi, Masahiko; Honda, Yasuhito; Abe, Shosaku; Igarashi, Tomofumi; Sekine, Kyuichiro.

1993-01-01

The clinical features, chest radiographs and computed tomographic (CT) images were evaluated in 11 cases of serologically proved adult measles complicated with pneumonia (10 were previously healthy and one had sarcoidosis). Pneumonia appeared during the rash period in all cases. Respiratory symptoms were cough (9/11), dyspnea (3/11), and hypoxemia (10/11). Pneumonia manifestations were detected in only 4 cases by chest radiograph; on the other hand, they were seen in all cases by CT scan and consisted of ground-glass opacities (73%), nodular opacities (64%) and consolidation (27%). CT seems to be useful method to detect measles pneumonia if it is suspected. Measles pneumonia in previously healthy patients had a good prognosis, as the hypoxemia disappeared within 6 days in all cases. The sarcoidosis patient showed prolonged pneumonic shadows and period of hypoxemia. Measles pneumonia occurring in a host with cellular immunodeficiency may have a severe clinical course. (author)

Features of CRISPR-Cas Regulation Key to Highly Efficient and Temporally-Specific crRNA Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andjela Rodic

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bacterial immune systems, such as CRISPR-Cas or restriction-modification (R-M systems, affect bacterial pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance by modulating horizontal gene flow. A model system for CRISPR-Cas regulation, the Type I-E system from Escherichia coli, is silent under standard laboratory conditions and experimentally observing the dynamics of CRISPR-Cas activation is challenging. Two characteristic features of CRISPR-Cas regulation in E. coli are cooperative transcription repression of cas gene and CRISPR array promoters, and fast non-specific degradation of full length CRISPR transcripts (pre-crRNA. In this work, we use computational modeling to understand how these features affect the system expression dynamics. Signaling which leads to CRISPR-Cas activation is currently unknown, so to bypass this step, we here propose a conceptual setup for cas expression activation, where cas genes are put under transcription control typical for a restriction-modification (R-M system and then introduced into a cell. Known transcription regulation of an R-M system is used as a proxy for currently unknown CRISPR-Cas transcription control, as both systems are characterized by high cooperativity, which is likely related to similar dynamical constraints of their function. We find that the two characteristic CRISPR-Cas control features are responsible for its temporally-specific dynamical response, so that the system makes a steep (switch-like transition from OFF to ON state with a time-delay controlled by pre-crRNA degradation rate. We furthermore find that cooperative transcription regulation qualitatively leads to a cross-over to a regime where, at higher pre-crRNA processing rates, crRNA generation approaches the limit of an infinitely abrupt system induction. We propose that these dynamical properties are associated with rapid expression of CRISPR-Cas components and efficient protection of bacterial cells against foreign DNA. In terms of synthetic

Self-guided method to search maximal Bell violations for unknown quantum states

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Li-Kai; Chen, Geng; Zhang, Wen-Hao; Peng, Xing-Xiang; Yu, Shang; Ye, Xiang-Jun; Li, Chuan-Feng; Guo, Guang-Can

2017-11-01

In recent decades, a great variety of research and applications concerning Bell nonlocality have been developed with the advent of quantum information science. Providing that Bell nonlocality can be revealed by the violation of a family of Bell inequalities, finding maximal Bell violation (MBV) for unknown quantum states becomes an important and inevitable task during Bell experiments. In this paper we introduce a self-guided method to find MBVs for unknown states using a stochastic gradient ascent algorithm (SGA), by parametrizing the corresponding Bell operators. For three investigated systems (two qubit, three qubit, and two qutrit), this method can ascertain the MBV of general two-setting inequalities within 100 iterations. Furthermore, we prove SGA is also feasible when facing more complex Bell scenarios, e.g., d -setting d -outcome Bell inequality. Moreover, compared to other possible methods, SGA exhibits significant superiority in efficiency, robustness, and versatility.

Mean--variance portfolio optimization when means and covariances are unknown

OpenAIRE

Tze Leung Lai; Haipeng Xing; Zehao Chen

2011-01-01

Markowitz's celebrated mean--variance portfolio optimization theory assumes that the means and covariances of the underlying asset returns are known. In practice, they are unknown and have to be estimated from historical data. Plugging the estimates into the efficient frontier that assumes known parameters has led to portfolios that may perform poorly and have counter-intuitive asset allocation weights; this has been referred to as the "Markowitz optimization enigma." After reviewing differen...

Mobile Augmented Reality Support for Architects Based on Feature Tracking Techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang Nielsen, Michael; Kramp, Gunnar; Grønbæk, Kaj

2004-01-01

on the horizon view from an office building, while working on a courtyard garden proposal. The SitePack applies a novel combination of GPS tracking and vision based feature tracking in its support for architects. The SitePack requires no preparation of the site and combines and extends the strengths of previous...

Anticipated Guilt as Behavioral Motivation: An Examination of Appeals to Help Unknown Others through Bone Marrow Donation

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsey, Lisa L. Massi

2005-01-01

The current study posits that messages used to elicit behaviors to help unknown others must present substantial perceptions of a threat and efficacy to be successful. Given that many prosocial helping messages depict a threat to unknown others, the current investigation proposed that anticipated guilt is a motivating force behind individuals'…

Shape adaptive, robust iris feature extraction from noisy iris images.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghodrati, Hamed; Dehghani, Mohammad Javad; Danyali, Habibolah

2013-10-01

In the current iris recognition systems, noise removing step is only used to detect noisy parts of the iris region and features extracted from there will be excluded in matching step. Whereas depending on the filter structure used in feature extraction, the noisy parts may influence relevant features. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of noise factors on feature extraction has not been considered in the previous works. This paper investigates the effect of shape adaptive wavelet transform and shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet for feature extraction on the iris recognition performance. In addition, an effective noise-removing approach is proposed in this paper. The contribution is to detect eyelashes and reflections by calculating appropriate thresholds by a procedure called statistical decision making. The eyelids are segmented by parabolic Hough transform in normalized iris image to decrease computational burden through omitting rotation term. The iris is localized by an accurate and fast algorithm based on coarse-to-fine strategy. The principle of mask code generation is to assign the noisy bits in an iris code in order to exclude them in matching step is presented in details. An experimental result shows that by using the shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet technique there is an improvement on the accuracy of recognition rate.

Combining Semantic and Acoustic Features for Valence and Arousal Recognition in Speech

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karadogan, Seliz; Larsen, Jan

2012-01-01

The recognition of affect in speech has attracted a lot of interest recently; especially in the area of cognitive and computer sciences. Most of the previous studies focused on the recognition of basic emotions (such as happiness, sadness and anger) using categorical approach. Recently, the focus...... has been shifting towards dimensional affect recognition based on the idea that emotional states are not independent from one another but related in a systematic manner. In this paper, we design a continuous dimensional speech affect recognition model that combines acoustic and semantic features. We...... show that combining semantic and acoustic information for dimensional speech recognition improves the results. Moreover, we show that valence is better estimated using semantic features while arousal is better estimated using acoustic features....

Predicting DNA Methylation State of CpG Dinucleotide Using Genome Topological Features and Deep Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yiheng; Liu, Tong; Xu, Dong; Shi, Huidong; Zhang, Chaoyang; Mo, Yin-Yuan; Wang, Zheng

2016-01-22

The hypo- or hyper-methylation of the human genome is one of the epigenetic features of leukemia. However, experimental approaches have only determined the methylation state of a small portion of the human genome. We developed deep learning based (stacked denoising autoencoders, or SdAs) software named "DeepMethyl" to predict the methylation state of DNA CpG dinucleotides using features inferred from three-dimensional genome topology (based on Hi-C) and DNA sequence patterns. We used the experimental data from immortalised myelogenous leukemia (K562) and healthy lymphoblastoid (GM12878) cell lines to train the learning models and assess prediction performance. We have tested various SdA architectures with different configurations of hidden layer(s) and amount of pre-training data and compared the performance of deep networks relative to support vector machines (SVMs). Using the methylation states of sequentially neighboring regions as one of the learning features, an SdA achieved a blind test accuracy of 89.7% for GM12878 and 88.6% for K562. When the methylation states of sequentially neighboring regions are unknown, the accuracies are 84.82% for GM12878 and 72.01% for K562. We also analyzed the contribution of genome topological features inferred from Hi-C. DeepMethyl can be accessed at http://dna.cs.usm.edu/deepmethyl/.

The Unknown Component Problem Theory and Applications

CERN Document Server

Villa, Tiziano; Brayton, Robert K; Mishchenko, Alan; Petrenko, Alexandre; Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, Alberto

2012-01-01

The Problem of the Unknown Component: Theory and Applications addresses the issue of designing a component that, combined with a known part of a system, conforms to an overall specification. The authors tackle this problem by solving abstract equations over a language. The most general solutions are studied when both synchronous and parallel composition operators are used. The abstract equations are specialized to languages associated with important classes of automata used for modeling systems. The book is a blend of theory and practice, which includes a description of a software package with applications to sequential synthesis of finite state machines. Specific topologies interconnecting the components, exact and heuristic techniques, and optimization scenarios are studied. Finally the scope is enlarged to domains like testing, supervisory control, game theory and synthesis for special omega languages. The authors present original results of the authors along with an overview of existing ones.

The acoustic features of human laughter

Science.gov (United States)

Bachorowski, Jo-Anne; Owren, Michael J.

2002-05-01

Remarkably little is known about the acoustic features of laughter, despite laughter's ubiquitous role in human vocal communication. Outcomes are described for 1024 naturally produced laugh bouts recorded from 97 young adults. Acoustic analysis focused on temporal characteristics, production modes, source- and filter-related effects, and indexical cues to laugher sex and individual identity. The results indicate that laughter is a remarkably complex vocal signal, with evident diversity in both production modes and fundamental frequency characteristics. Also of interest was finding a consistent lack of articulation effects in supralaryngeal filtering. Outcomes are compared to previously advanced hypotheses and conjectures about this species-typical vocal signal.

Feature Article

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

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

Pacman dysplasia: a lethal skeletal dysplasia with variable radiographic features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, S.F. [Dept. of Radiology, Children' s Hospital of the King' s Daughters, Norfolk (United States); Proud, V.K. [Dept. of Genetics, Children' s Hospital of the King' s Daughters, Norfolk (United States); Werner, A.L. [Dept. of Pathology, Children' s Hospital of the King' s Daughters, Norfolk (United States); Field, F.M.; Wilcox, W.F.; Lachman, R.S.; Rimoin, D.L. [International Skeletal Dysplasia Registry, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles (United States)

2003-04-01

Background: Punctate or stippled cartilaginous calcifications are associated with many conditions, including chromosomal, infectious, endocrine, and teratogenic etiologies. Some of these conditions are clinically mild, while others are lethal. Accurate diagnosis can prove instrumental in clinical management and in genetic counseling. Objective: To describe the diagnostic radiographic features seen in Pacman dysplasia, a distinct autosomal recessive, lethal skeletal dysplasia. Materials and methods: We present the fourth reported case of Pacman dysplasia and compare the findings seen in our patient with the three previously described patients. Results: Invariable and variable radiographic findings were seen in all four cases of histologically proven Pacman dysplasia. Conclusion: Pacman dysplasia presents both constant and variable diagnostic radiographic features. (orig.)

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

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2010-01-01

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

Identification of informative features for predicting proinflammatory potentials of engine exhausts.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chia-Chi; Lin, Ying-Chi; Lin, Yuan-Chung; Jhang, Syu-Ruei; Tung, Chun-Wei

2017-08-18

The immunotoxicity of engine exhausts is of high concern to human health due to the increasing prevalence of immune-related diseases. However, the evaluation of immunotoxicity of engine exhausts is currently based on expensive and time-consuming experiments. It is desirable to develop efficient methods for immunotoxicity assessment. To accelerate the development of safe alternative fuels, this study proposed a computational method for identifying informative features for predicting proinflammatory potentials of engine exhausts. A principal component regression (PCR) algorithm was applied to develop prediction models. The informative features were identified by a sequential backward feature elimination (SBFE) algorithm. A total of 19 informative chemical and biological features were successfully identified by SBFE algorithm. The informative features were utilized to develop a computational method named FS-CBM for predicting proinflammatory potentials of engine exhausts. FS-CBM model achieved a high performance with correlation coefficient values of 0.997 and 0.943 obtained from training and independent test sets, respectively. The FS-CBM model was developed for predicting proinflammatory potentials of engine exhausts with a large improvement on prediction performance compared with our previous CBM model. The proposed method could be further applied to construct models for bioactivities of mixtures.

Smooth extrapolation of unknown anatomy via statistical shape models

Science.gov (United States)

Grupp, R. B.; Chiang, H.; Otake, Y.; Murphy, R. J.; Gordon, C. R.; Armand, M.; Taylor, R. H.

2015-03-01

Several methods to perform extrapolation of unknown anatomy were evaluated. The primary application is to enhance surgical procedures that may use partial medical images or medical images of incomplete anatomy. Le Fort-based, face-jaw-teeth transplant is one such procedure. From CT data of 36 skulls and 21 mandibles separate Statistical Shape Models of the anatomical surfaces were created. Using the Statistical Shape Models, incomplete surfaces were projected to obtain complete surface estimates. The surface estimates exhibit non-zero error in regions where the true surface is known; it is desirable to keep the true surface and seamlessly merge the estimated unknown surface. Existing extrapolation techniques produce non-smooth transitions from the true surface to the estimated surface, resulting in additional error and a less aesthetically pleasing result. The three extrapolation techniques evaluated were: copying and pasting of the surface estimate (non-smooth baseline), a feathering between the patient surface and surface estimate, and an estimate generated via a Thin Plate Spline trained from displacements between the surface estimate and corresponding vertices of the known patient surface. Feathering and Thin Plate Spline approaches both yielded smooth transitions. However, feathering corrupted known vertex values. Leave-one-out analyses were conducted, with 5% to 50% of known anatomy removed from the left-out patient and estimated via the proposed approaches. The Thin Plate Spline approach yielded smaller errors than the other two approaches, with an average vertex error improvement of 1.46 mm and 1.38 mm for the skull and mandible respectively, over the baseline approach.

Identification of unknown sample using NAA, EDXRF, XRD techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalvi, Aditi A.; Swain, K.K.; Chavan, Trupti; Remya Devi, P.S.; Wagh, D.N.; Verma, R.

2015-01-01

Analytical Chemistry Division (ACD), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) receives samples from law enforcement agencies such as Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Customs for analysis. Five unknown grey powdered samples were received for identification and were suspected to be Iridium (Ir). Identification of unknown sample is always a challenging task and suitable analytical techniques have to be judiciously utilized for arriving at the conclusion. Qualitative analysis was carried out using Jordan Valley, EX-3600 M Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer at ACD, BARC. A SLP series LEO Si (Li) detector (active area: 30 mm 2 ; thickness: 3.5 mm; resolution: 140 eV at 5.9 keV of Mn K X-ray) was used during the measurement and only characteristic X-rays of Ir (Lα: 9.17 keV and Lβ: 10.70 keV) was seen in the X-ray spectrum. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement results indicated that the Ir was in the form of metal. To confirm the XRD data, neutron activation analysis (NAA) was carried out by irradiating samples and elemental standards (as comparator) in graphite reflector position of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor Critical Facility (AHWR CF) reactor, BARC, Mumbai. After suitable decay period, gamma activity measurements were carried out using 45% HPGe detector coupled to 8 k multi channel analyzer. Characteristic gamma line at 328.4 keV of the activation product 194 Ir was used for quantification of iridium and relative method of NAA was used for concentration calculations. NAA results confirmed that all the samples were Iridium metal. (author)

Case Report: Congenital Erythroleukemia in a Premature Infant with Dysmorphic Features.

Science.gov (United States)

Helin, Heidi; van der Walt, Jon; Holder, Muriel; George, Simi

2016-01-01

We present a case of pure erythroleukemia, diagnosed at autopsy, in a dysmorphic premature infant who died of multiorgan failure within 24 hours of birth. Dysmorphic features included facial and limb abnormalities with long philtrum, microagnathia, downturned mouth, short neck as well as abnormal and missing nails, missing distal phalanx from the second toe, and overlapping toes. Internal findings included gross hepatomegaly and patchy hemorrhages in the liver, splenomegaly, and cardiomegaly; and subdural, intracerebral, and intraventricular hemorrhages. Histology revealed infiltration of bone marrow, kidney, heart, liver, adrenal, lung, spleen, pancreas, thyroid, testis, thymus, and placenta by pure erythroleukemia. Only 6 cases of congenital erythroleukemia have been previously reported with autopsy findings similar to those of this case. The dysmorphic features, although not fitting any specific syndrome, make this case unique. Congenital erythroleukemia and possible syndromes suggested by the dysmorphic features are discussed.

SEM-EDX analysis of an unknown "known" white powder found in a shipping container from Peru

Science.gov (United States)

Albright, Douglas C.

2009-05-01

In 2008, an unknown white powder was discovered spilled inside of a shipping container of whole kernel corn during an inspection by federal inspectors in the port of Baltimore, Maryland. The container was detained and quarantined while a sample of the powder was collected and sent to a federal laboratory where it was screened using chromatography for the presence of specific poisons and pesticides with negative results. Samples of the corn kernels and the white powder were forwarded to the Food and Drug Administration, Forensic Chemistry Center for further analysis. Stereoscopic Light Microscopy (SLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (SEM/EDX), and Polarized Light Microscopy/Infrared Spectroscopy (PLM-IR) were used in the analysis of the kernels and the unknown powder. Based on the unique particle analysis by SLM and SEM as well as the detection of the presence of aluminum and phosphorous by EDX, the unknown was determined to be consistent with reacted aluminum phosphide (AlP). While commonly known in the agricultural industry, aluminum phosphide is relatively unknown in the forensic community. A history of the use and acute toxicity of this compound along with some very unique SEM/EDX analysis characteristics of aluminum phosphide will be discussed.

A dynamical approach in exploring the unknown mass in the Solar system using pulsar timing arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Y. J.; Lee, K. J.; Caballero, R. N.

2018-04-01

The error in the Solar system ephemeris will lead to dipolar correlations in the residuals of pulsar timing array for widely separated pulsars. In this paper, we utilize such correlated signals, and construct a Bayesian data-analysis framework to detect the unknown mass in the Solar system and to measure the orbital parameters. The algorithm is designed to calculate the waveform of the induced pulsar-timing residuals due to the unmodelled objects following the Keplerian orbits in the Solar system. The algorithm incorporates a Bayesian-analysis suit used to simultaneously analyse the pulsar-timing data of multiple pulsars to search for coherent waveforms, evaluate the detection significance of unknown objects, and to measure their parameters. When the object is not detectable, our algorithm can be used to place upper limits on the mass. The algorithm is verified using simulated data sets, and cross-checked with analytical calculations. We also investigate the capability of future pulsar-timing-array experiments in detecting the unknown objects. We expect that the future pulsar-timing data can limit the unknown massive objects in the Solar system to be lighter than 10-11-10-12 M⊙, or measure the mass of Jovian system to a fractional precision of 10-8-10-9.

Pregnancy-associated breast disease: radiologic features and diagnostic dilemmas.

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Eun Ju; Oh, Ki Keun; Kim, Eun Kyung

2006-02-28

In this paper, we evaluate the radiological features of pregnancy-associated breast lesions and discuss the difficulties in diagnosis by imaging. We selected patients who were diagnosed with pregnancy-associated breast lesions during the previous 5 years. All patients complained of palpable lesions in the breast and underwent ultrasonographic (US) examination, the first choice for examination of pregnancy-related breast lesions. Any suspicious lesions found by the US were recommended for a US-guided core biopsy, US-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA), or surgery. Various breast lesions were detected during pregnancy and lactation, including breast cancer, mastitis and abscesses, lactating adenoma, galactoceles, lobular hyperplasia, and fibroadenomas. The imaging features of pregnancy-associated breast lesions did not differ from the features of non-pregnancy-associated breast lesions; however, some pregnancy-associated benign lesions had suspicious sonographic features. A US-guided core biopsy was necessary for differentiating benign from malignant. In patients with breast cancer, the cancer was often advanced at the time of diagnosis. In conclusion, various pregnancy-related breast lesions were detected and the imaging of these lesions had variable findings. Breast ultrasound could be an excellent imaging modality for diagnosis and differentiation between benign and malignant lesions. However, when the imaging results are suspicious, a biopsy should be performed to obtain a pathologic diagnosis.

Chest CT features of cystic fibrosis in Korea: Comparison with non-cystic fibrosis diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, So Yeon; Lee, Kyung Soo; Kim, Tae Jung; Kim, Tae Sung; Cha, Min Jae; Yoon, Hyun Jung

2017-01-01

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare congenital disease in Korea, and its clinical and imaging findings are unclear. The objective of our study was to describe the clinical and CT features of CF in Korea and compare its features with those of other diseases mimicking CF. From November 1994 to December 2014, a presumptive diagnosis of CF was made in 23 patients based on clinical or radiological examination. After the exclusion of 10 patients without diagnostic confirmation, 13 patients were included in the study. A diagnosis of CF was made with the CF gene study. CT findings were evaluated for the presence and distribution of parenchymal abnormalities including bronchiectasis, tree-in-bud (TIB) pattern, mucus plugging, consolidation, and mosaic attenuation. Of the 13 patients, 7 (median age, 15 years) were confirmed as CF, 4 (median age, 19 years) had primary ciliary dyskinesia, 1 had bronchiectasis of unknown cause, and 1 had chronic asthma. CT of patients with CF showed bilateral bronchiectasis, TIB pattern, mosaic attenuation, and mucus plugging in all patients, with upper lung predominance (57%). In CT of the non-CF patients, bilateral bronchiectasis, TIB pattern, mosaic attenuation, and mucus plugging were also predominant features, with lower lung predominance (50%). Korean patients with CF showed bilateral bronchiectasis, cellular bronchiolitis, mucus plugging, and mosaic attenuation, which overlapped with those of non-CF patients. CF gene study is recommended for the definitive diagnosis of CF in patients with these clinical and imaging features

Chest CT features of cystic fibrosis in Korea: Comparison with non-cystic fibrosis diseases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, So Yeon; Lee, Kyung Soo; Kim, Tae Jung; Kim, Tae Sung [Dept. of Radiology, and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cha, Min Jae [Dept. of Radiology, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, Hyun Jung [Dept. of Radiology, Hanyang University Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-01-15

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare congenital disease in Korea, and its clinical and imaging findings are unclear. The objective of our study was to describe the clinical and CT features of CF in Korea and compare its features with those of other diseases mimicking CF. From November 1994 to December 2014, a presumptive diagnosis of CF was made in 23 patients based on clinical or radiological examination. After the exclusion of 10 patients without diagnostic confirmation, 13 patients were included in the study. A diagnosis of CF was made with the CF gene study. CT findings were evaluated for the presence and distribution of parenchymal abnormalities including bronchiectasis, tree-in-bud (TIB) pattern, mucus plugging, consolidation, and mosaic attenuation. Of the 13 patients, 7 (median age, 15 years) were confirmed as CF, 4 (median age, 19 years) had primary ciliary dyskinesia, 1 had bronchiectasis of unknown cause, and 1 had chronic asthma. CT of patients with CF showed bilateral bronchiectasis, TIB pattern, mosaic attenuation, and mucus plugging in all patients, with upper lung predominance (57%). In CT of the non-CF patients, bilateral bronchiectasis, TIB pattern, mosaic attenuation, and mucus plugging were also predominant features, with lower lung predominance (50%). Korean patients with CF showed bilateral bronchiectasis, cellular bronchiolitis, mucus plugging, and mosaic attenuation, which overlapped with those of non-CF patients. CF gene study is recommended for the definitive diagnosis of CF in patients with these clinical and imaging features.

Transfer of an unknown quantum state, quantum networks, and memory