Applying Bayesian neural networks to separate neutrino events from backgrounds in reactor neutrino experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Y; Meng, Y X; Xu, W W

2008-01-01

A toy detector has been designed to simulate central detectors in reactor neutrino experiments in the paper. The samples of neutrino events and three major backgrounds from the Monte-Carlo simulation of the toy detector are generated in the signal region. The Bayesian Neural Networks (BNN) are applied to separate neutrino events from backgrounds in reactor neutrino experiments. As a result, the most neutrino events and uncorrelated background events in the signal region can be identified with BNN, and the part events each of the fast neutron and 8 He/ 9 Li backgrounds in the signal region can be identified with BNN. Then, the signal to noise ratio in the signal region is enhanced with BNN. The neutrino discrimination increases with the increase of the neutrino rate in the training sample. However, the background discriminations decrease with the decrease of the background rate in the training sample

New Region-Scalable Discriminant and Fitting Energy Functional for Driving Geometric Active Contours in Medical Image Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuchu Wang

2014-01-01

that uses region-scalable discriminant and fitting energy functional for handling the intensity inhomogeneity and weak boundary problems in medical image segmentation. The region-scalable discriminant and fitting energy functional is defined to capture the image intensity characteristics in local and global regions for driving the evolution of active contour. The discriminant term in the model aims at separating background and foreground in scalable regions while the fitting term tends to fit the intensity in these regions. This model is then transformed into a variational level set formulation with a level set regularization term for accurate computation. The new model utilizes intensity information in the local and global regions as much as possible; so it not only handles better intensity inhomogeneity, but also allows more robustness to noise and more flexible initialization in comparison to the original global region and regional-scalable based models. Experimental results for synthetic and real medical image segmentation show the advantages of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and robustness.

Discrimination, domestic violence, abuse, and other adverse life events in people with epilepsy: Population-based study to assess the burden of these events and their contribution to psychopathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Nimmo-Smith, Victoria; Brugha, Traolach S; Kerr, Michael P; McManus, Sally; Rai, Dheeraj

2016-11-01

To quantify the experience of discrimination, domestic violence, abuse, and other stressful life events in people with epilepsy in comparison with the general population and people with other chronic conditions. To assess whether any excess relative burden of these adversities could explain the higher rates of depression in people with epilepsy. The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007 used comprehensive interviews with 7,403 individuals living in private residences in England. Doctor-diagnosed epilepsy and other chronic conditions were established by self-report. Discrimination, domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, and other stressful life events were assessed using computerized self-completion and a face-to-face interview, respectively. People with epilepsy were sevenfold more likely to have reported experiencing discrimination due to health problems (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 7.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.1-16.3), than the general population without epilepsy. This estimate was substantially greater in people with epilepsy than for people with other chronic conditions. People with epilepsy also had greater odds of experiencing domestic violence and sexual abuse than the general population, although these associations were also found in people with other chronic conditions. There was less evidence of an association between epilepsy and a history of physical abuse or having a greater burden of other stressful life events. In exploratory analyses, assuming they lie on the causal pathway, discrimination, domestic violence, and sexual abuse explained 42.7% of the total effect of the relationship between epilepsy and depression or anxiety disorders. People with epilepsy can face a range of psychosocial adversities and extensively report feeling discriminated against as compared to the general population. In addition, if confirmed in longitudinal studies, the results suggest that these psychosocial adversities may have a significant role in the

Salient Region Detection via Feature Combination and Discriminative Classifier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deming Kong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We introduce a novel approach to detect salient regions of an image via feature combination and discriminative classifier. Our method, which is based on hierarchical image abstraction, uses the logistic regression approach to map the regional feature vector to a saliency score. Four saliency cues are used in our approach, including color contrast in a global context, center-boundary priors, spatially compact color distribution, and objectness, which is as an atomic feature of segmented region in the image. By mapping a four-dimensional regional feature to fifteen-dimensional feature vector, we can linearly separate the salient regions from the clustered background by finding an optimal linear combination of feature coefficients in the fifteen-dimensional feature space and finally fuse the saliency maps across multiple levels. Furthermore, we introduce the weighted salient image center into our saliency analysis task. Extensive experiments on two large benchmark datasets show that the proposed approach achieves the best performance over several state-of-the-art approaches.

Photospheric Magnetic Field Properties of Flaring versus Flare-quiet Active Regions. II. Discriminant Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Leka, K. D.; Barnes, G.

2003-10-01

We apply statistical tests based on discriminant analysis to the wide range of photospheric magnetic parameters described in a companion paper by Leka & Barnes, with the goal of identifying those properties that are important for the production of energetic events such as solar flares. The photospheric vector magnetic field data from the University of Hawai'i Imaging Vector Magnetograph are well sampled both temporally and spatially, and we include here data covering 24 flare-event and flare-quiet epochs taken from seven active regions. The mean value and rate of change of each magnetic parameter are treated as separate variables, thus evaluating both the parameter's state and its evolution, to determine which properties are associated with flaring. Considering single variables first, Hotelling's T2-tests show small statistical differences between flare-producing and flare-quiet epochs. Even pairs of variables considered simultaneously, which do show a statistical difference for a number of properties, have high error rates, implying a large degree of overlap of the samples. To better distinguish between flare-producing and flare-quiet populations, larger numbers of variables are simultaneously considered; lower error rates result, but no unique combination of variables is clearly the best discriminator. The sample size is too small to directly compare the predictive power of large numbers of variables simultaneously. Instead, we rank all possible four-variable permutations based on Hotelling's T2-test and look for the most frequently appearing variables in the best permutations, with the interpretation that they are most likely to be associated with flaring. These variables include an increasing kurtosis of the twist parameter and a larger standard deviation of the twist parameter, but a smaller standard deviation of the distribution of the horizontal shear angle and a horizontal field that has a smaller standard deviation but a larger kurtosis. To support the

Explosion Monitoring with Machine Learning: A LSTM Approach to Seismic Event Discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Magana-Zook, S. A.; Ruppert, S. D.

2017-12-01

The streams of seismic data that analysts look at to discriminate natural from man- made events will soon grow from gigabytes of data per day to exponentially larger rates. This is an interesting problem as the requirement for real-time answers to questions of non-proliferation will remain the same, and the analyst pool cannot grow as fast as the data volume and velocity will. Machine learning is a tool that can solve the problem of seismic explosion monitoring at scale. Using machine learning, and Long Short-term Memory (LSTM) models in particular, analysts can become more efficient by focusing their attention on signals of interest. From a global dataset of earthquake and explosion events, a model was trained to recognize the different classes of events, given their spectrograms. Optimal recurrent node count and training iterations were found, and cross validation was performed to evaluate model performance. A 10-fold mean accuracy of 96.92% was achieved on a balanced dataset of 30,002 instances. Given that the model is 446.52 MB it can be used to simultaneously characterize all incoming signals by researchers looking at events in isolation on desktop machines, as well as at scale on all of the nodes of a real-time streaming platform. LLNL-ABS-735911

Distance effects on regional discriminants along a seismic profile in Northwest Nevada; NPE and nuclear results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCormack, D.A. [AWE Blacknest, Berkshire (United Kingdom); Priestley, K.F. [Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom); Patton, H.J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

1994-12-31

To address questions of discriminant transportability, it is important to understand how discriminants based on regional seismic phases are affected by regional variations in velocity structure. To examine this issue, we have recorded two explosions, the nuclear explosion Kinibito and the Non-Proliferation Experiment along a 300 km-long profile through western Nevada. We use these data to investigate the stability with distance of several proposed seismic discriminants. In this study we first estimate the apparent attenuation of the regional phases. We compare attenuation corrected amplitude ratios for P{sub n}/L{sub g} and P{sub g}/L{sub g}, and spectral ratios for P{sub n}, P{sub g}, and L{sub g}, as a function of distance along the profile. We make these comparisons for the vertical component and for the total vector resultant using all three components of motion.

Discrimination between underground explosions and earthquakes using discriminant functions: Examples for Eurasia and North America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowroozi, A.A.

1986-01-01

Discriminant functions are extensively used as a technical tool in educational and psychological research as well as in some branches of geological sciences. The application of this technique to the problem of discrimination between underground nuclear explosions and earthquakes has been reported. Here we apply this technique to a known population of underground nuclear explosions and earthquakes for the determination of various statistical parameters needed for setting up the discriminant function equations for discrimination between unknown population of earthquakes, anomalous events, and underground explosions, then we classify earthquakes, explosions and anomalous events in Eurasia and North America

Discrimination of ginseng cultivation regions using light stable isotope analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kiwook; Song, Joo-Hyun; Heo, Sang-Cheol; Lee, Jin-Hee; Jung, In-Woo; Min, Ji-Sook

2015-10-01

Korean ginseng is considered to be a precious health food in Asia. Today, thieves frequently compromise ginseng farms by pervasive theft. Thus, studies regarding the characteristics of ginseng according to growth region are required in order to deter ginseng thieves and prevent theft. In this study, 6 regions were selected on the basis of Korea regional criteria (si, gun, gu), and two ginseng-farms were randomly selected from each of the 6 regions. Then 4-6 samples of ginseng were acquired from each ginseng farm. The stable isotopic compositions of H, O, C, and N of the collected ginseng samples were analyzed. As a result, differences in the hydrogen isotope ratios could be used to distinguish regional differences, and differences in the nitrogen isotope ratios yielded characteristic information regarding the farms from which the samples were obtained. Thus, stable isotope values could be used to differentiate samples according to regional differences. Therefore, stable isotope analysis serves as a powerful tool to discriminate the regional origin of Korean ginseng samples from across Korea. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Social exclusion and discrimination of chronically mentally ill people in the Lodz region].

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmus, Paweł; Nowaczyńska, Ewa; Stetkiewicz-Lewandowicz, Agnieszka; Rasmus, Alicja; Sobów, Tomasz

2013-11-01

Mental crisis exerts a negative effect on somatic, psychological and social functioning of a mentally ill person. Mental disease is often accompanied by factors increasing the social exclusion and discrimination of patients. Another problem is deeply rooted stereotypes and prejudices functioning in the public opinion, according to which people who suffer from mental disorder are considered insane and often dangerous for society. In Poland, thanks to, amongst others, the ESF (The European Social Fund) funds, it is possible to finance and implement research concerning social exclusion and discrimination of people who have experienced a mental crisis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of social exclusion and discrimination of people suffering from mental disorders from the Lodz region on the basis of seven points scale assessing their personal, occupational, and social functioning. MATERIAL AND METHODS; The study included a group of 101 patients with mental disorders. Participants were selected randomly from mental health institutions from the region of Lodz. To evaluate the problem of social exclusion in the group of patients a interview questionnaire was used. Social exclusion concerned people suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis, more than six years of illness, those with allocated disability pension, non-working and non-learning, with the lowest levels of education and maintaining a one-person household or living with one parent. Those who experienced the lowest degree of social exclusion were mainly people suffering from mood disorders, people with higher education, learning and working, living with both parents. Groups experiencing discrimination were mostly people with schizophrenia, disorders due to psychoactive substances, those with secondary and professional education, patients having a certificate of disability and maintaining a one-person household. Social exclusion of mentally ill people was mainly related to their low education, civic

Intelligence and P3 Components of the Event-Related Potential Elicited during an Auditory Discrimination Task with Masking

Science.gov (United States)

De Pascalis, V.; Varriale, V.; Matteoli, A.

2008-01-01

The relationship between fluid intelligence (indexed by scores on Raven Progressive Matrices) and auditory discrimination ability was examined by recording event-related potentials from 48 women during the performance of an auditory oddball task with backward masking. High ability (HA) subjects exhibited shorter response times, greater response…

Test ban treaty verification with regional data: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pomeroy, P.W.; Best, W.J.; McEvilly, T.V.

1982-01-01

This paper summarizes the use of regional (Δ ≤ 30 0 ) seismic data in a test ban context for detecting, locating, identifying, and determining the yield of underground nuclear explosions. In many areas of the world (Eastern North America, Africa, Eastern USSR), Lg is the largest amplitude wave recorded on standard seismograph systems and thus is the most appropriate phase for monitoring small magnitude events. Excellent location capability for near-regional events has been demonstrated at the Norwegian small aperture array (NORESS) using Lg and P waves. Lg and other regional phases may contain information on source depth, but such information has not been exploited to date. Fifteen classes of regional discriminants are listed. Most have been tested only on limited data, usually from one geographic region and only one or two recording stations. No systematic analyses have been done to determine the best individual discriminant or combination of them. Preliminary evaluation of the use of Lg for yield determination suggests that regional waves hold promise in this application. Theoretical studies have contributed significantly to the understanding of propagation characteristics of regional waves but further studies are required emphasizing modeling for realistic anisotropic sources. The major conclusion of this study is that a systematic and comparative evaluation of all the proposed regional discriminants is now required, utilizing a common data base derived from all present-day test sites. This evaluation would suggest the optimal discrimination procedure using regional waves, and would also define areas of needed research. Without such an integrated evaluation, it is still possible to speculate, using existing results, on the most promising regional discriminants

Neutron-gamma discrimination based on pulse shape discrimination in a Ce:LiCaAlF{sub 6} scintillator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamazaki, Atsushi, E-mail: a-yamazaki@nucl.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Department of Materials, Physics and Energy Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University (Japan); Watanabe, Kenichi; Uritani, Akira [Department of Materials, Physics and Energy Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University (Japan); Iguchi, Tetsuo [Department of Quantum Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University (Japan); Kawaguchi, Noriaki [Tokuyama Corporation (Japan); Yanagida, Takayuki; Fujimoto, Yutaka; Yokota, Yuui; Kamada, Kei [Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University (Japan); Fukuda, Kentaro; Suyama, Toshihisa [Tokuyama Corporation (Japan); Yoshikawa, Akira [Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University (Japan); New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe), Tohoku University (Japan)

2011-10-01

We demonstrate neutron-gamma discrimination based on a pulse shape discrimination method in a Ce:LiCAF scintillator. We have tried neutron-gamma discrimination using a difference in the pulse shape or the decay time of the scintillation light pulse. The decay time is converted into the rise time through an integrating circuit. A {sup 252}Cf enclosed in a polyethylene container is used as the source of thermal neutrons and prompt gamma-rays. Obvious separation of neutron and gamma-ray events is achieved using the information of the rise time of the scintillation light pulse. In the separated neutron spectrum, the gamma-ray events are effectively suppressed with little loss of neutron events. The pulse shape discrimination is confirmed to be useful to detect neutrons with the Ce:LiCAF scintillator under an intense high-energy gamma-ray condition.

Temporal integration: intentional sound discrimination does not modulate stimulus-driven processes in auditory event synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sussman, Elyse; Winkler, István; Kreuzer, Judith; Saher, Marieke; Näätänen, Risto; Ritter, Walter

2002-12-01

Our previous study showed that the auditory context could influence whether two successive acoustic changes occurring within the temporal integration window (approximately 200ms) were pre-attentively encoded as a single auditory event or as two discrete events (Cogn Brain Res 12 (2001) 431). The aim of the current study was to assess whether top-down processes could influence the stimulus-driven processes in determining what constitutes an auditory event. Electroencepholagram (EEG) was recorded from 11 scalp electrodes to frequently occurring standard and infrequently occurring deviant sounds. Within the stimulus blocks, deviants either occurred only in pairs (successive feature changes) or both singly and in pairs. Event-related potential indices of change and target detection, the mismatch negativity (MMN) and the N2b component, respectively, were compared with the simultaneously measured performance in discriminating the deviants. Even though subjects could voluntarily distinguish the two successive auditory feature changes from each other, which was also indicated by the elicitation of the N2b target-detection response, top-down processes did not modify the event organization reflected by the MMN response. Top-down processes can extract elemental auditory information from a single integrated acoustic event, but the extraction occurs at a later processing stage than the one whose outcome is indexed by MMN. Initial processes of auditory event-formation are fully governed by the context within which the sounds occur. Perception of the deviants as two separate sound events (the top-down effects) did not change the initial neural representation of the same deviants as one event (indexed by the MMN), without a corresponding change in the stimulus-driven sound organization.

Understanding Laterally Varying Path Effects on P/S Ratios and their Effectiveness for Event Discrimination at Local Distances

Science.gov (United States)

Pyle, M. L.; Walter, W. R.

2017-12-01

Discrimination between underground explosions and naturally occurring earthquakes is an important endeavor for global security and test-ban treaty monitoring, and ratios of seismic P to S-wave amplitudes at regional distances have proven to be an effective discriminant. The use of the P/S ratio is rooted in the idea that explosive sources should theoretically only generate compressional energy. While, in practice, shear energy is observed from explosions, generally when corrections are made for magnitude and distance, P/S ratios from explosions are higher than those from surrounding earthquakes. At local distances (chemical explosions at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) designed to improve our understanding and modeling capabilities of shear waves generated by explosions. Phase I consisted of 5 explosions in granite and Phase II will move to a contrasting dry alluvium geology. We apply a high-resolution 2D attenuation model to events near the NNSS to examine what effect path plays in local P/S ratios, and how well an earthquake-derived model can account for shallower explosion paths. The model incorporates both intrinsic attenuation and scattering effects and extends to 16 Hz, allowing us to make lateral path corrections and consider high-frequency ratios. Preliminary work suggests that while 2D path corrections modestly improve earthquake amplitude predictions, explosion amplitudes are not well matched, and so P/S ratios do not necessarily improve. Further work is needed to better understand the uses and limitation of 2D path corrections for local P/S ratios.

Evaluation of ML-MC as a Depth Discriminant in Yellowstone, USA and Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Z.; Koper, K. D.; Burlacu, R.; Sun, D.; D'Amico, S.

2017-12-01

Recent work has shown that the difference between two magnitude scales, ML (local Richter magnitude) and MC (coda/duration magnitude), acts as a depth discriminant in Utah. Shallow seismic sources, such as mining induced earthquakes and explosions, have strongly negative ML-MC values, while deeper tectonic earthquakes have ML-MC values near zero. These observations imply that ML-MC might be effective at discriminating small explosions from deeper natural earthquakes at local distances. In this work, we examine seismicity catalogs for the Yellowstone region and Italy to determine if ML-MCacts as a depth discriminant in these regions as well. We identified 4,780 earthquakes that occurred in the Yellowstone region between Sept. 24, 1994 and March 31, 2017 for which both ML and MC were calculated. The ML-MC distribution is well described by a Gaussian function with a mean of 0.102 and a standard deviation of 0.326. We selected a subset of these events with accurate depths and determined mean ML-MC values in various depth bins. An event depth was considered accurate if the formal depth error was less than 2 km and either (1) the nearest station was within one focal depth or (2) the distance to the nearest station was smaller than the bin size. We find that ML-MC decreases as event depths become shallower than about 10 km. Similar to the results for Utah, the decrease is statistically significant and is robust with respect to small changes in bin size and the criteria used to define accurate depths. We used a similar process to evaluate whether ML-MC was a function of source depth for 63,555 earthquakes that occurred between April 16, 2005 and April 30, 2012 in Italy. The ML-MC values in Italy are also well described by a normal distribution, with a mean of -0.477 and standard deviation of 0.315. We again find a statistically significant decrease in ML-MC for shallow earthquakes. In contrast to the Yellowstone results, for Italy ML-MC decreases at a nearly constant rate

300-MHz optical discriminator-counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turko, B.; Lo, C.C.

1981-07-01

The prediction of future CO 2 content in the atmosphere is not completely credible because the oceanographers and terrestrial ecologists do not agree on the global CO 2 balance. Very precise measurements of O 2 /N 2 ratio using Raman scattering over a few years' period could provide important information and lead to the explanation of the disparity in the atmospheric CO 2 balance. An optical discriminator-counter has been developed to count closely spaced optical events in the few photon level. Simulated optical events as close as 2.5 ns apart had been positively detected by using selected photomultipliers and optimized discriminators. Testing of the optical discriminator-counter was done by using an electrical pulse pair spaced 3 ns apart and also by a similar optical pulse pair generated by fast light-emitting diode. The photomultiplier is capable of counting an average single photoelectron pulse frequency of 50 MHz and has a sensitive detecting area of 50 mm in diameter. The discriminator performance is discussed

MALDI imaging mass spectrometry: discrimination of pathophysiological regions in traumatized skeletal muscle by characteristic peptide signatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Oliver; Strohschein, Kristin; Nebrich, Grit; Oetjen, Janina; Trede, Dennis; Thiele, Herbert; Alexandrov, Theodore; Giavalisco, Patrick; Duda, Georg N; von Roth, Philipp; Geissler, Sven; Klose, Joachim; Winkler, Tobias

2014-10-01

Due to formation of fibrosis and the loss of contractile muscle tissue, severe muscle injuries often result in insufficient healing marked by a significant reduction of muscle force and motor activity. Our previous studies demonstrated that the local transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells into an injured skeletal muscle of the rat improves the functional outcome of the healing process. Since, due to the lack of sufficient markers, the accurate discrimination of pathophysiological regions in injured skeletal muscle is inadequate, underlying mechanisms of the beneficial effects of mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation on primary trauma and trauma adjacent muscle area remain elusive. For discrimination of these pathophysiological regions, formalin-fixed injured skeletal muscle tissue was analyzed by MALDI imaging MS. By using two computational evaluation strategies, a supervised approach (ClinProTools) and unsupervised segmentation (SCiLS Lab), characteristic m/z species could be assigned to primary trauma and trauma adjacent muscle regions. Using "bottom-up" MS for protein identification and validation of results by immunohistochemistry, we could identify two proteins, skeletal muscle alpha actin and carbonic anhydrase III, which discriminate between the secondary damage on adjacent tissue and the primary traumatized muscle area. Our results underscore the high potential of MALDI imaging MS to describe the spatial characteristics of pathophysiological changes in muscle. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Identification of homogeneous regions for rainfall regional frequency analysis considering typhoon event in South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Heo, J. H.; Ahn, H.; Kjeldsen, T. R.

2017-12-01

South Korea is prone to large, and often disastrous, rainfall events caused by a mixture of monsoon and typhoon rainfall phenomena. However, traditionally, regional frequency analysis models did not consider this mixture of phenomena when fitting probability distributions, potentially underestimating the risk posed by the more extreme typhoon events. Using long-term observed records of extreme rainfall from 56 sites combined with detailed information on the timing and spatial impact of past typhoons from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), this study developed and tested a new mixture model for frequency analysis of two different phenomena; events occurring regularly every year (monsoon) and events only occurring in some years (typhoon). The available annual maximum 24 hour rainfall data were divided into two sub-samples corresponding to years where the annual maximum is from either (1) a typhoon event, or (2) a non-typhoon event. Then, three-parameter GEV distribution was fitted to each sub-sample along with a weighting parameter characterizing the proportion of historical events associated with typhoon events. Spatial patterns of model parameters were analyzed and showed that typhoon events are less commonly associated with annual maximum rainfall in the North-West part of the country (Seoul area), and more prevalent in the southern and eastern parts of the country, leading to the formation of two distinct typhoon regions: (1) North-West; and (2) Southern and Eastern. Using a leave-one-out procedure, a new regional frequency model was tested and compared to a more traditional index flood method. The results showed that the impact of typhoon on design events might previously have been underestimated in the Seoul area. This suggests that the use of the mixture model should be preferred where the typhoon phenomena is less frequent, and thus can have a significant effect on the rainfall-frequency curve. This research was supported by a grant(2017-MPSS31

Events as boosters of the regional economy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krammer, L.; Heijman, W.J.M.

2014-01-01

Events are increasingly being used as a means to boost regional economic development through tourism, but are they truly effective to this end? In this article we attempted to answer this question by measuring the impact of the Christmas Festival ‘Magisch Maastricht’ on the economy of the

Multiscale Region-Level VHR Image Change Detection via Sparse Change Descriptor and Robust Discriminative Dictionary Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Xu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Very high resolution (VHR image change detection is challenging due to the low discriminative ability of change feature and the difficulty of change decision in utilizing the multilevel contextual information. Most change feature extraction techniques put emphasis on the change degree description (i.e., in what degree the changes have happened, while they ignore the change pattern description (i.e., how the changes changed, which is of equal importance in characterizing the change signatures. Moreover, the simultaneous consideration of the classification robust to the registration noise and the multiscale region-consistent fusion is often neglected in change decision. To overcome such drawbacks, in this paper, a novel VHR image change detection method is proposed based on sparse change descriptor and robust discriminative dictionary learning. Sparse change descriptor combines the change degree component and the change pattern component, which are encoded by the sparse representation error and the morphological profile feature, respectively. Robust change decision is conducted by multiscale region-consistent fusion, which is implemented by the superpixel-level cosparse representation with robust discriminative dictionary and the conditional random field model. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed change detection technique.

Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and attribution of extreme regional low temperature event

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng Tai-Chen; Zhang Ke-Quan; Wang Xiao-Juan; Zhang Wen-Yu; Su Hai-Jing; Gong Zhi-Qiang

2015-01-01

Based on an objective identification technique for regional low temperature event (OITRLTE), the daily minimum temperature in China has been detected from 1960 to 2013. During this period, there were 60 regional extreme low temperature events (ERLTEs), which are included in the 690 regional low temperature events (RLTEs). The 60 ERLTEs are analyzed in this paper. The results show that in the last 50 years, the intensity of the ERLTEs has become weak; the number of lasted days has decreased; and, the affected area has become small. However, that situation has changed in this century. In terms of spatial distribution, the high intensity regions are mainly in Northern China while the high frequency regions concentrate in Central and Eastern China. According to the affected area of each event, the 60 ERLTEs are classified into six types. The atmospheric circulation background fields which correspond to these types are also analyzed. The results show that, influenced by stronger blocking highs of Ural and Lake Baikal, as well as stronger southward polar vortex and East Asia major trough at 500-hPa geopotential height, cold air from high latitudes is guided to move southward and abnormal northerly winds at 850 hPa makes the cold air blow into China along diverse paths, thereby forming different types of regional extreme low temperatures in winter. (paper)

Source-Type Identification Analysis Using Regional Seismic Moment Tensors

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, A.; Dreger, D. S.; Ford, S. R.; Walter, W. R.

2012-12-01

Waveform inversion to determine the seismic moment tensor is a standard approach in determining the source mechanism of natural and manmade seismicity, and may be used to identify, or discriminate different types of seismic sources. The successful applications of the regional moment tensor method at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the 2006 and 2009 North Korean nuclear tests (Ford et al., 2009a, 2009b, 2010) show that the method is robust and capable for source-type discrimination at regional distances. The well-separated populations of explosions, earthquakes and collapses on a Hudson et al., (1989) source-type diagram enables source-type discrimination; however the question remains whether or not the separation of events is universal in other regions, where we have limited station coverage and knowledge of Earth structure. Ford et al., (2012) have shown that combining regional waveform data and P-wave first motions removes the CLVD-isotropic tradeoff and uniquely discriminating the 2009 North Korean test as an explosion. Therefore, including additional constraints from regional and teleseismic P-wave first motions enables source-type discrimination at regions with limited station coverage. We present moment tensor analysis of earthquakes and explosions (M6) from Lop Nor and Semipalatinsk test sites for station paths crossing Kazakhstan and Western China. We also present analyses of smaller events from industrial sites. In these sparse coverage situations we combine regional long-period waveforms, and high-frequency P-wave polarity from the same stations, as well as from teleseismic arrays to constrain the source type. Discrimination capability with respect to velocity model and station coverage is examined, and additionally we investigate the velocity model dependence of vanishing free-surface traction effects on seismic moment tensor inversion of shallow sources and recovery of explosive scalar moment. Our synthetic data tests indicate that biases in scalar

Background rejection of n+ surface events in GERDA Phase II

Science.gov (United States)

Lehnert, Björn

2016-05-01

The GERDA experiment searches for neutrinoless double beta (0vββ) decay in 76Ge using an array of high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors immersed in liquid argon (LAr). Phase II of the experiment uses 30 new broad energy germanium (BEGe) detectors with superior pulse shape discrimination capabilities compared to the previously used semi-coaxial detector design. By far the largest background component for BEGe detectors in GERDA are n+-surface events from 42K β decays which are intrinsic in LAr. The β particles with up to 3.5 MeV can traverse the 0.5 to 0.9 mm thick electrode and deposit energy within the region of interest for the 0vββ decay. However, those events have particular pulse shape features allowing for a strong discrimination. The understanding and simulation of this background, showing a reduction by up to a factor 145 with pulse shape discrimination alone, is presented in this work.

3-D topological signatures and a new discrimination method for single-electron events and 0νββ events in CdZnTe: A Monte Carlo simulation study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zeng, Ming; Li, Teng-Lin; Cang, Ji-Rong [Key Laboratory of Particle & Radiation Imaging (Tsinghua University), Ministry of Education (China); Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Zeng, Zhi, E-mail: zengzhi@tsinghua.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Particle & Radiation Imaging (Tsinghua University), Ministry of Education (China); Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Fu, Jian-Qiang; Zeng, Wei-He; Cheng, Jian-Ping; Ma, Hao; Liu, Yi-Nong [Key Laboratory of Particle & Radiation Imaging (Tsinghua University), Ministry of Education (China); Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

2017-06-21

In neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay experiments, the diversity of topological signatures of different particles provides an important tool to distinguish double beta events from background events and reduce background rates. Aiming at suppressing the single-electron backgrounds which are most challenging, several groups have established Monte Carlo simulation packages to study the topological characteristics of single-electron events and 0νββ events and develop methods to differentiate them. In this paper, applying the knowledge of graph theory, a new topological signature called REF track (Refined Energy-Filtered track) is proposed and proven to be an accurate approximation of the real particle trajectory. Based on the analysis of the energy depositions along the REF track of single-electron events and 0νββ events, the REF energy deposition models for both events are proposed to indicate the significant differences between them. With these differences, this paper presents a new discrimination method, which, in the Monte Carlo simulation, achieved a single-electron rejection factor of 93.8±0.3 (stat.)% as well as a 0νββ efficiency of 85.6±0.4 (stat.)% with optimized parameters in CdZnTe.

An example of multidimensional analysis: Discriminant analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lutz, P.

1990-01-01

Among the approaches on the data multi-dimensional analysis, lectures on the discriminant analysis including theoretical and practical aspects are presented. The discrimination problem, the analysis steps and the discrimination categories are stressed. Examples on the descriptive historical analysis, the discrimination for decision making, the demonstration and separation of the top quark are given. In the linear discriminant analysis the following subjects are discussed: Huyghens theorem, projection, discriminant variable, geometrical interpretation, case for g=2, classification method, separation of the top events. Criteria allowing the obtention of relevant results are included [fr

Vigilance in the discrimination-stress model for Black Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Himmelstein, Mary S; Young, Danielle M; Sanchez, Diana T; Jackson, James S

2015-01-01

Daily events of discrimination are important factors in understanding health disparities. Vigilant coping, or protecting against anticipated discrimination by monitoring and modifying behaviour, is an understudied mechanism that may link discrimination and health outcomes. This study investigates how responding to everyday discrimination with anticipatory vigilance relates to the health of Black men and women. Black adults (N = 221) from the Detroit area completed measures of discrimination, adverse life events, vigilance coping, stress, depressive symptoms and self-reported health. Vigilance coping strategies mediated the relationship between discrimination and stress. Multi-group path analysis revealed that stress in turn was associated with increased depression in men and women. Self-reported health consequences of stress differed between men and women. Vigilance coping mediates the link between discrimination and stress, and stress has consequences for health outcomes resulting from discrimination. More research is needed to understand other underlying contributors to discrimination, stress and poor health outcomes as well as to create potential interventions to ameliorate health outcomes in the face of discrimination-related stress.

A method for discrimination of noise and EMG signal regions recorded during rhythmic behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, Rex; Wall, Christine E

2016-12-08

Analyses of muscular activity during rhythmic behaviors provide critical data for biomechanical studies. Electrical potentials measured from muscles using electromyography (EMG) require discrimination of noise regions as the first step in analysis. An experienced analyst can accurately identify the onset and offset of EMG but this process takes hours to analyze a short (10-15s) record of rhythmic EMG bursts. Existing computational techniques reduce this time but have limitations. These include a universal threshold for delimiting noise regions (i.e., a single signal value for identifying the EMG signal onset and offset), pre-processing using wide time intervals that dampen sensitivity for EMG signal characteristics, poor performance when a low frequency component (e.g., DC offset) is present, and high computational complexity leading to lack of time efficiency. We present a new statistical method and MATLAB script (EMG-Extractor) that includes an adaptive algorithm to discriminate noise regions from EMG that avoids these limitations and allows for multi-channel datasets to be processed. We evaluate the EMG-Extractor with EMG data on mammalian jaw-adductor muscles during mastication, a rhythmic behavior typified by low amplitude onsets/offsets and complex signal pattern. The EMG-Extractor consistently and accurately distinguishes noise from EMG in a manner similar to that of an experienced analyst. It outputs the raw EMG signal region in a form ready for further analysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital voltage discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Zhicheng

1992-01-01

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

Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and attribution of extreme regional low temperature event

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Tai-Chen; Zhang, Ke-Quan; Su, Hai-Jing; Wang, Xiao-Juan; Gong, Zhi-Qiang; Zhang, Wen-Yu

2015-10-01

Based on an objective identification technique for regional low temperature event (OITRLTE), the daily minimum temperature in China has been detected from 1960 to 2013. During this period, there were 60 regional extreme low temperature events (ERLTEs), which are included in the 690 regional low temperature events (RLTEs). The 60 ERLTEs are analyzed in this paper. The results show that in the last 50 years, the intensity of the ERLTEs has become weak; the number of lasted days has decreased; and, the affected area has become small. However, that situation has changed in this century. In terms of spatial distribution, the high intensity regions are mainly in Northern China while the high frequency regions concentrate in Central and Eastern China. According to the affected area of each event, the 60 ERLTEs are classified into six types. The atmospheric circulation background fields which correspond to these types are also analyzed. The results show that, influenced by stronger blocking highs of Ural and Lake Baikal, as well as stronger southward polar vortex and East Asia major trough at 500-hPa geopotential height, cold air from high latitudes is guided to move southward and abnormal northerly winds at 850 hPa makes the cold air blow into China along diverse paths, thereby forming different types of regional extreme low temperatures in winter. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41305075), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2012CB955203 and 2012CB955902), and the Special Scientific Research on Public Welfare Industry, China (Grant No. GYHY201306049).

Numerical modeling and the physical basis of seismic discriminants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denny, M.D.

1993-01-01

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

Femtomolar detection of single mismatches by discriminant analysis of DNA hybridization events using gold nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xingyi; Sim, Sang Jun

2013-03-21

Even though DNA-based nanosensors have been demonstrated for quantitative detection of analytes and diseases, hybridization events have never been numerically investigated for further understanding of DNA mediated interactions. Here, we developed a nanoscale platform with well-designed capture and detection gold nanoprobes to precisely evaluate the hybridization events. The capture gold nanoprobes were mono-laid on glass and the detection probes were fabricated via a novel competitive conjugation method. The two kinds of probes combined in a suitable orientation following the hybridization with the target. We found that hybridization efficiency was markedly dependent on electrostatic interactions between DNA strands, which can be tailored by adjusting the salt concentration of the incubation solution. Due to the much lower stability of the double helix formed by mismatches, the hybridization efficiencies of single mismatched (MMT) and perfectly matched DNA (PMT) were different. Therefore, we obtained an optimized salt concentration that allowed for discrimination of MMT from PMT without stringent control of temperature or pH. The results indicated this to be an ultrasensitive and precise nanosensor for the diagnosis of genetic diseases.

Investigating source processes of isotropic events

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, Andrea

This dissertation demonstrates the utility of the complete waveform regional moment tensor inversion for nuclear event discrimination. I explore the source processes and associated uncertainties for explosions and earthquakes under the effects of limited station coverage, compound seismic sources, assumptions in velocity models and the corresponding Green's functions, and the effects of shallow source depth and free-surface conditions. The motivation to develop better techniques to obtain reliable source mechanism and assess uncertainties is not limited to nuclear monitoring, but they also provide quantitative information about the characteristics of seismic hazards, local and regional tectonics and in-situ stress fields of the region . This dissertation begins with the analysis of three sparsely recorded events: the 14 September 1988 US-Soviet Joint Verification Experiment (JVE) nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk test site in Eastern Kazakhstan, and two nuclear explosions at the Chinese Lop Nor test site. We utilize a regional distance seismic waveform method fitting long-period, complete, three-component waveforms jointly with first-motion observations from regional stations and teleseismic arrays. The combination of long period waveforms and first motion observations provides unique discrimination of these sparsely recorded events in the context of the Hudson et al. (1989) source-type diagram. We examine the effects of the free surface on the moment tensor via synthetic testing, and apply the moment tensor based discrimination method to well-recorded chemical explosions. These shallow chemical explosions represent rather severe source-station geometry in terms of the vanishing traction issues. We show that the combined waveform and first motion method enables the unique discrimination of these events, even though the data include unmodeled single force components resulting from the collapse and blowout of the quarry face immediately following the initial

Advanced event reweighting using multivariate analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martschei, D; Feindt, M; Honc, S; Wagner-Kuhr, J

2012-01-01

Multivariate analysis (MVA) methods, especially discrimination techniques such as neural networks, are key ingredients in modern data analysis and play an important role in high energy physics. They are usually trained on simulated Monte Carlo (MC) samples to discriminate so called 'signal' from 'background' events and are then applied to data to select real events of signal type. We here address procedures that improve this work flow. This will be the enhancement of data / MC agreement by reweighting MC samples on a per event basis. Then training MVAs on real data using the sPlot technique will be discussed. Finally we will address the construction of MVAs whose discriminator is independent of a certain control variable, i.e. cuts on this variable will not change the discriminator shape.

Digital pulse-shape discrimination applied to an ultra-low-background gas-proportional counting system. First results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aalseth, C.E.; Day, A.R.; Fuller, E.S.; Hoppe, E.W.; Keillor, M.E.; Mace, E.K.; Myers, A.W.; Overman, C.T.; Panisko, M.E.; Seifert, A.

2013-01-01

A new ultra-low-background proportional counter design was recently developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). This design, along with an ultra-low-background counting system which provides passive and active shielding with radon exclusion, has been developed to complement a new shallow underground laboratory (∼30 m water-equivalent) constructed at PNNL. After these steps to mitigate dominant backgrounds (cosmic rays, external gamma-rays, radioactivity in materials), remaining background events do not exclusively arise from ionization of the proportional counter gas. Digital pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) is thus employed to further improve measurement sensitivity. In this work, a template shape is generated for each individual sample measurement of interest, a 'self-calibrating' template. Differences in event topology can also cause differences in pulse shape. In this work, the temporal region analyzed for each event is refined to maximize background discrimination while avoiding unwanted sensitivity to event topology. This digital PSD method is applied to sample and background data, and initial measurement results from a biofuel methane sample are presented in the context of low-background measurements currently being developed. (author)

Time Separation Between Events in a Sequence: a Regional Property?

Science.gov (United States)

Muirwood, R.; Fitzenz, D. D.

2013-12-01

Earthquake sequences are loosely defined as events occurring too closely in time and space to appear unrelated. Depending on the declustering method, several, all, or no event(s) after the first large event might be recognized as independent mainshocks. It can therefore be argued that a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA, traditionally dealing with mainshocks only) might already include the ground shaking effects of such sequences. Alternatively all but the largest event could be classified as an ';aftershock' and removed from the earthquake catalog. While in PSHA the question is only whether to keep or remove the events from the catalog, for Risk Management purposes, the community response to the earthquakes, as well as insurance risk transfer mechanisms, can be profoundly affected by the actual timing of events in such a sequence. In particular the repetition of damaging earthquakes over a period of weeks to months can lead to businesses closing and families evacuating from the region (as happened in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011). Buildings that are damaged in the first earthquake may go on to be damaged again, even while they are being repaired. Insurance also functions around a set of critical timeframes - including the definition of a single 'event loss' for reinsurance recoveries within the 192 hour ';hours clause', the 6-18 month pace at which insurance claims are settled, and the annual renewal of insurance and reinsurance contracts. We show how temporal aspects of earthquake sequences need to be taken into account within models for Risk Management, and what time separation between events are most sensitive, both in terms of the modeled disruptions to lifelines and business activity as well as in the losses to different parties (such as insureds, insurers and reinsurers). We also explore the time separation between all events and between loss causing events for a collection of sequences from across the world and we point to the need to

L{sub g} coda moment rate spectra and discrimination using L{sub g} coda envelopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayeda, K.M.; Walter, W.R. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA (United States)

1994-12-31

Low magnitude seismic monitoring will depend largely on high frequency near-regional discriminants such as ratios of P to S energy and spectral amplitude ratios within P or S phases. Due to high frequency attenuation and sparse distribution of recording stations, small magnitude events will have to be identified with only a few stations, in some instances perhaps only one. Recently, stable single station magnitudes for explosions at NTS and moment rate spectra for earthquakes throughout the western U.S. have been estimated using L{sub g} coda envelopes. The averaging nature of coda waves virtually eliminates the amplitude variability due to source radiation anisotropy and lateral variations in path geology between the source and receiver. In this study, we find that L{sub g} coda spectral ratios are 3 to 4 times less variable than direct phase spectral ratio measurements. Events fired in low strength-high gas porosity material have higher spectral ratios than events in high strength-low gas porosity material, and thus discriminate well from earthquakes which have the lowest spectral ratios. In contrast, P{sub g}/L{sub g} phase ratios for events in low strength-high gas porosity material lie closest to the earthquake population. A combination of both discriminants performs better than either one does alone. Moment rate spectra for explosions show strong depth-dependent spectral peaking that is not observed in normal depth western U.S. earthquakes and is consistent with strong R{sub g} to S scattering near the explosion source. This explosion spectral peaking will be explored in future work as part of a possible broadband discriminant.

Exploring regional stakeholder needs and requirements in terms of Extreme Weather Event Attribution

Science.gov (United States)

Schwab, M.; Meinke, I.; Vanderlinden, J. P.; Touili, N.; Von Storch, H.

2015-12-01

Extreme event attribution has increasingly received attention in the scientific community. It may also serve decision-making at the regional level where much of the climate change impact mitigation takes place. Nevertheless, there is, to date, little known about the requirements of regional actors in terms of extreme event attribution. We have therefore analysed these at the example of regional decision-makers for climate change-related activities and/or concerned with storm surge risks at the German Baltic Sea and heat wave risks in the Greater Paris area. In order to explore if stakeholders find scientific knowledge from extreme event attribution useful and how this information might be relevant to their decision-making, we consulted a diverse set of actors engaged in the assessment, mitigation and communication of storm surge, heat wave, and climate change-related risks. Extreme event attribution knowledge was perceived to be most useful to public and political awareness-raising, but was of little or no relevance for the consulted stakeholders themselves. It was not acknowledged that it would support adaptation planning as sometimes argued in the literature. The consulted coastal protection, health, and urban adaptation planners rather needed reliable statements about possible future changes in extreme events than causal statements about past events. To enhance salience, a suitable product of event attribution should be linked to regional problems, vulnerabilities, and impacts of climate change. Given that the tolerance of uncertainty is rather low, most of the stakeholders also claimed that a suitable product of event attribution is to be received from a trusted "honest broker" and published rather later, but with smaller uncertainties than vice versa. Institutional mechanisms, like regional climate services, which enable and foster communication, translation and mediation across the boundaries between knowledge and action can help fulfill such requirements

Underlying Event Studies and Forward Physics at CMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krammer, Manfred; Bartalini, Paolo

2010-01-01

Studies of the underlying event and forward processes are important tests of the standard model and inputs for Monte Carlo tuning. By selecting regions transverse and parallel to the hard parton-parton scatter, different aspects of non-perturbative QCD are enhanced and allow fine tuning of different Monte Carlo models. The underlying event in pp interactions, recorded by the CMS detector, is studied measuring the charged multiplicity density and the charged energy density in a region perpendicular to the plane of the hard 2-to-2 scattering. Two different methodologies are adopted to identify the direction and the energy scale of the hard scattering in Minimum Bias events that rely on the leading charged track and on the leading charged jet. The study allows to discriminate between various QCD Monte Carlo models with different multiple parton interaction schemes. In addition, we present the measurement of the underlying event using the jet area/ median approach. We demonstrate its sensitivity to different underlying event scenarios and tunes on generator level after applying detector specific cuts and thresholds. In the forward direction, the first measurement of forward energy flow in 3 35 GeV and compare to model with different multi-parton interaction schemes. In addition, the absence of energy deposition in the forward region is used to observe diffractive events. We compare our results with predictions from Monte Carlo event generators including a simulation of multi-parton scattering. All four measurements can be used to determine the parameters of multi-parton interaction models in a extended region of phase space. (author)

Cell nuclei segmentation in fluorescence microscopy images using inter- and intra-region discriminative information.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yang; Cai, Weidong; Feng, David Dagan; Chen, Mei

2013-01-01

Automated segmentation of cell nuclei in microscopic images is critical to high throughput analysis of the ever increasing amount of data. Although cell nuclei are generally visually distinguishable for human, automated segmentation faces challenges when there is significant intensity inhomogeneity among cell nuclei or in the background. In this paper, we propose an effective method for automated cell nucleus segmentation using a three-step approach. It first obtains an initial segmentation by extracting salient regions in the image, then reduces false positives using inter-region feature discrimination, and finally refines the boundary of the cell nuclei using intra-region contrast information. This method has been evaluated on two publicly available datasets of fluorescence microscopic images with 4009 cells, and has achieved superior performance compared to popular state of the art methods using established metrics.

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, H.; Singh, S.

2015-01-01

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

Pulse-shape Discrimination in Organic Scintillators Using the Rising Edge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, A.; Joyce, M.J.

2013-06-01

The possibility of discriminating between neutrons and γ rays on the basis of differences in the rising edge of corresponding pulses from organic scintillation detectors is described. It has long been known that radiation type can be discerned on the basis of subtle differences in pulse shape from a variety of detection materials, but discrimination in fast organic scintillators has long been reliant on the separation in decay face of the pulse. This can constrain pulse-shape discrimination techniques to follow after the peak amplitude of the event and they can thus be more susceptible to the effects of pile up. Furthermore, discrimination in the decay face places a fundamental limit on the time relative to the evolution of the event when discrimination can be performed and thus this can be a significant constraint on the event processing rate for high pulse-rate applications. In this paper the correspondence between established mathematical models of organic pulse shape and real events in the rising edge part of the event is investigated, and the potential for rise-time based pulse-shape discrimination in mixed-field data from organic scintillators is explored. Special nuclear materials (SNM) are of particular interest to security surveillance and based on active interrogation. Active interrogation involves neutrons hitting a material that is fissile, and detecting the emitted γ rays and neutrons to try and classify materials. Faster, more efficient and more transportable devices are being sought to help in the prevention of illicit transport of nuclear materials. SNM are difficult to detect due to high-flux γ emissions, and very low neutron signatures (authors)

Detection and discrimination of maintenance and de novo CpG methylation events using MethylBreak.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, William; Mercado, Augustus T; Hsiao, George; Yeh, Jui-Ming; Chen, Chung-Yung

2017-05-15

Understanding the principles governing the establishment and maintenance activities of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) can help in the development of predictive biomarkers associated with genetic disorders and diseases. A detection system was developed that distinguishes and quantifies methylation events using methylation-sensitive endonucleases and molecular beacon technology. MethylBreak (MB) is a 22-mer oligonucleotide with one hemimethylated and two unmethylated CpG sites, which are also recognition sites for Sau96I and SacII, and is attached to a fluorophore and a quencher. Maintenance methylation was quantified by fluorescence emission due to the digestion of SacII when the hemimethylated CpG site is methylated, which inhibits Sau96I cleavage. The signal difference between SacII digestion of both MB substrate and maintenance methylated MB corresponds to de novo methylation event. Our technology successfully discriminated and measured both methylation activities at different concentrations of MB and achieved a high correlation coefficient of R 2 =0.997. Additionally, MB was effectively applied to normal and cancer cell lines and in the analysis of enzymatic kinetics and RNA inhibition of recombinant human DNMT1. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The context of discrimination: workplace conditions, institutional environments, and sex and race discrimination charges.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirsh, C Elizabeth; Kornrich, Sabino

2008-03-01

This article explores the organizational conditions under which discrimination charges occur. Drawing on structural and organizational theories of the workplace, the authors demonstrate how organizational conditions affect workers' and regulatory agents' understandings of unlawful discrimination. Using a national sample of work establishments, matched to discrimination-charge data obtained from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the authors examine how characteristics of the workplace and institutional environment affect variation in the incidence of workers' charges of sex and race discrimination and in the subset of discrimination claims that are verified by EEOC investigators. The findings indicate that workplace conditions, including size, composition, and minority management, affect workers' charges as well as verified claims; the latter are also affected by institutional factors, such as affirmative action requirements, subsidiary status, and industrial sector. These results suggest that internal workplace conditions affect both workers' and regulatory agents' interpretations of potentially discriminatory experiences, while institutional conditions matter only for regulatory agents' interpretations of those events.

Fγ: A new observable for photon-hadron discrimination in hybrid air shower events

Science.gov (United States)

Niechciol, M.; Risse, M.; Ruehl, P.; Settimo, M.; Younk, P. W.; Yushkov, A.

2018-01-01

To search for ultra-high-energy photons in primary cosmic rays, air shower observables are needed that allow a good separation between primary photons and primary hadrons. We present a new observable, Fγ, which can be extracted from ground-array data in hybrid events, where simultaneous measurements of the longitudinal and the lateral shower profile are performed. The observable is based on a template fit to the lateral distribution measured by the ground array with the template taking into account the complementary information from the measurement of the longitudinal profile, i.e. the primary energy and the geometry of the shower. Fγ shows a very good photon-hadron separation, which is even superior to the separation given by the well-known Xmax observable (the atmospheric depth of the shower maximum). At energies around 1 EeV (10 EeV), Fγ provides a background rejection better than 97.8 % (99.9 %) at a signal efficiency of 50 %. Advantages of the observable Fγ are its technical stability with respect to irregularities in the ground array (i.e. missing or temporarily non-operating stations) and that it can be applied over the full energy range accessible to the air shower detector, down to its threshold energy. Furthermore, Fγ complements nicely to Xmax such that both observables can well be combined to achieve an even better discrimination power, exploiting the rich information available in hybrid events.

Transgender women of color: discrimination and depression symptoms

Science.gov (United States)

Jefferson, Kevin; Neilands, Torsten B.; Sevelius, Jae

2014-01-01

Purpose Trans women of color contend with multiple marginalizations; the purpose of this study is to examine associations between experiencing discriminatory (racist/transphobic) events and depression symptoms. It uses a categorical measure of combined discrimination, and examines a protective association of transgender identity on depression symptoms. Design/methodology/approach Data from a subset of trans women of color participants in the Sheroes study were analyzed with linear and logistic regression. Associations of depression symptoms with racist and transphobic events, combined discrimination, coping self-efficacy, and transgender identity were assessed with odds ratios. Findings Exposure to discriminatory events and combined discrimination positively associated with depression symptom odds. Increased transgender identity associated with increased coping self-efficacy, which negatively associated with depression symptom odds. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional study data prohibits inferring causality; results support conducting longitudinal research on discrimination’s health effects, and research on transgender identity. Results also support operationalizing intersectionality in health research. The study’s categorical approach to combined discrimination may be replicable in studies with hard to reach populations and small sample sizes. Practical implications Health programs could pursue psychosocial interventions and anti-discrimination campaigns. Interventions might advocate increasing participants’ coping self-efficacy while providing space to explore and develop social identity. Social implications There is a need for policy and health programs to center trans women of color concerns. Originality/value This study examines combined discrimination and identity in relation to depression symptoms among trans women of color, an underserved population. Paper type Research paper PMID:25346778

Neutron–gamma discrimination based on the support vector machine method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Xunzhen; Zhu, Jingjun; Lin, ShinTed; Wang, Li; Xing, Haoyang; Zhang, Caixun; Xia, Yuxi; Liu, Shukui; Yue, Qian; Wei, Weiwei; Du, Qiang; Tang, Changjian

2015-01-01

In this study, the combination of the support vector machine (SVM) method with the moment analysis method (MAM) is proposed and utilized to perform neutron/gamma (n/γ) discrimination of the pulses from an organic liquid scintillator (OLS). Neutron and gamma events, which can be firmly separated on the scatter plot drawn by the charge comparison method (CCM), are detected to form the training data set and the test data set for the SVM, and the MAM is used to create the feature vectors for individual events in the data sets. Compared to the traditional methods, such as CCM, the proposed method can not only discriminate the neutron and gamma signals, even at lower energy levels, but also provide the corresponding classification accuracy for each event, which is useful in validating the discrimination. Meanwhile, the proposed method can also offer a predication of the classification for the under-energy-limit events

Study of the low-energy ER/NR discrimination and its electric-field dependence with liquid argon

Science.gov (United States)

Washimi, T.; Kikuchi, T.; Kimura, M.; Tanaka, M.; Yorita, K.

2018-02-01

A two-phase argon detector is generally suitable for the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter owing to its high rejection power against electron recoil background events. However, ionization signal (S2) has not been effectively used for argon in current experiments because its basic properties and discrimination power from S2 signal in the low-energy region are not well known, as compared with xenon. The scope of this study is evaluation of S2 properties at a low-energy region of about 40 keVnr and its discrimination power between electron recoils and nuclear recoils based on results from a prototype LAr time projection chamber. The drift-field was varied from null to 3 kV/cm. The detection feasibility for low-mass WIMP with argon is also discussed.

Discrimination of DPRK M5.1 February 12th, 2013 Earthquake as Nuclear Test Using Analysis of Magnitude, Rupture Duration and Ratio of Seismic Energy and Moment

Science.gov (United States)

Salomo Sianipar, Dimas; Subakti, Hendri; Pribadi, Sugeng

2015-04-01

On February 12th, 2013 morning at 02:57 UTC, there had been an earthquake with its epicenter in the region of North Korea precisely around Sungjibaegam Mountains. Monitoring stations of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and some other seismic network detected this shallow seismic event. Analyzing seismograms recorded after this event can discriminate between a natural earthquake or an explosion. Zhao et. al. (2014) have been successfully discriminate this seismic event of North Korea nuclear test 2013 from ordinary earthquakes based on network P/S spectral ratios using broadband regional seismic data recorded in China, South Korea and Japan. The P/S-type spectral ratios were powerful discriminants to separate explosions from earthquake (Zhao et. al., 2014). Pribadi et. al. (2014) have characterized 27 earthquake-generated tsunamis (tsunamigenic earthquake or tsunami earthquake) from 1991 to 2012 in Indonesia using W-phase inversion analysis, the ratio between the seismic energy (E) and the seismic moment (Mo), the moment magnitude (Mw), the rupture duration (To) and the distance of the hypocenter to the trench. Some of this method was also used by us to characterize the nuclear test earthquake. We discriminate this DPRK M5.1 February 12th, 2013 earthquake from a natural earthquake using analysis magnitude mb, ms and mw, ratio of seismic energy and moment and rupture duration. We used the waveform data of the seismicity on the scope region in radius 5 degrees from the DPRK M5.1 February 12th, 2013 epicenter 41.29, 129.07 (Zhang and Wen, 2013) from 2006 to 2014 with magnitude M ≥ 4.0. We conclude that this earthquake was a shallow seismic event with explosion characteristics and can be discriminate from a natural or tectonic earthquake. Keywords: North Korean nuclear test, magnitude mb, ms, mw, ratio between seismic energy and moment, ruptures duration

Energy-Efficient Fault-Tolerant Dynamic Event Region Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enemark, Hans-Jacob; Zhang, Yue; Dragoni, Nicola

2015-01-01

to a hybrid algorithm for dynamic event region detection, such as real-time tracking of chemical leakage regions. Considering the characteristics of the moving away dynamic events, we propose a return back condition for the hybrid algorithm from distributed neighborhood collaboration, in which a node makes......Fault-tolerant event detection is fundamental to wireless sensor network applications. Existing approaches usually adopt neighborhood collaboration for better detection accuracy, while need more energy consumption due to communication. Focusing on energy efficiency, this paper makes an improvement...... its detection decision based on decisions received from its spatial and temporal neighbors, to local non-communicative decision making. The simulation results demonstrate that the improved algorithm does not degrade the detection accuracy of the original algorithm, while it has better energy...

Regional economic impact of an event: the case of the Rotterdam Marathon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willem, Jan; Goedknegt, Bart; Heijman, W.J.M.

2016-01-01

The Rotterdam Marathon is an annual sports event in Rotterdam. This biggest one-day event in the Netherlands attracted around 925,000 visitors in 2014. This paper aims at evaluating its regional economic impact by way of input output analysis in terms of number of jobs.

Identifying Isotropic Events using an Improved Regional Moment Tensor Inversion Technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dreger, Douglas S. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Ford, Sean R. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Walter, William R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-12-08

Research was carried out investigating the feasibility of using a regional distance seismic waveform moment tensor inverse procedure to estimate source parameters of nuclear explosions and to use the source inversion results to develop a source-type discrimination capability. The results of the research indicate that it is possible to robustly determine the seismic moment tensor of nuclear explosions, and when compared to natural seismicity in the context of the a Hudson et al. (1989) source-type diagram they are found to separate from populations of earthquakes and underground cavity collapse seismic sources.

Economics of extreme weather events: Terminology and regional impact models

OpenAIRE

Jahn, Malte

2015-01-01

Impacts of extreme weather events are relevant for regional (in the sense of subnational) economies and in particular cities in many aspects. Cities are the cores of economic activity and the amount of people and assets endangered by extreme weather events is large, even under the current climate. A changing climate with changing extreme weather patterns and the process of urbanization will make the whole issue even more relevant in the future. In this paper, definitions and terminology in th...

Using discrete wavelet transform features to discriminate between noise and phases in seismic waveforms

Science.gov (United States)

Forrest, R.; Ray, J.; Hansen, C. W.

2017-12-01

Currently, simple polarization metrics such as the horizontal-to-vertical ratio are used to discriminate between noise and various phases in three-component seismic waveform data collected at regional distances. Accurately establishing the identity and arrival of these waves in adverse signal-to-noise environments is helpful in detecting and locating the seismic events. In this work, we explore the use of multiresolution decompositions to discriminate between noise and event arrivals. A segment of the waveform lying inside a time-window that spans the coda of an arrival is subjected to a discrete wavelet decomposition. Multi-resolution classification features as well as statistical tests are derived from these wavelet decomposition quantities to quantify their discriminating power. Furthermore, we move to streaming data and address the problem of false positives by introducing ensembles of classifiers. We describe in detail results of these methods tuned from data obtained from Coronel Fontana, Argentina (CFAA), as well as Stephens Creek, Australia (STKA). Acknowledgement: Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.

LARGE SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH FILAMENT ERUPTIONS OUTSIDE ACTIVE REGIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gopalswamy, N.; Mäkelä, P.; Akiyama, S.; Yashiro, S.; Xie, H.; Thakur, N. [Solar Physics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Kahler, S. W., E-mail: nat.gopalswamy@nasa.gov [Air Force Research Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM 87117 (United States)

2015-06-10

We report on four large filament eruptions (FEs) from solar cycles 23 and 24 that were associated with large solar energetic particle (SEP) events and interplanetary type II radio bursts. The post-eruption arcades corresponded mostly to C-class soft X-ray enhancements, but an M1.0 flare was associated with one event. However, the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were fast (speeds ∼ 1000 km s{sup −1}) and appeared as halo CMEs in the coronagraph field of view. The interplanetary type II radio bursts occurred over a wide wavelength range, indicating the existence of strong shocks throughout the inner heliosphere. No metric type II bursts were present in three events, indicating that the shocks formed beyond 2–3 Rs. In one case, there was a metric type II burst with low starting frequency, indicating a shock formation height of ∼2 Rs. The FE-associated SEP events did have softer spectra (spectral index >4) in the 10–100 MeV range, but there were other low-intensity SEP events with spectral indices ≥4. Some of these events are likely FE-SEP events, but were not classified as such in the literature because they occurred close to active regions. Some were definitely associated with large active region flares, but the shock formation height was large. We definitely find a diminished role for flares and complex type III burst durations in these large SEP events. Fast CMEs and shock formation at larger distances from the Sun seem to be the primary characteristics of the FE-associated SEP events.

Probing collective effects in hadronisation with the extremes of the underlying event

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, T.; Farrington, S. [University of Warwick, Department of Physics, Coventry (United Kingdom); Skands, P. [Monash University, School of Physics and Astronomy, Clayton, VIC (Australia)

2016-05-15

We define a new set of observables to probe the structure of the underlying event in hadron collisions. We use the conventional definition of the ''transverse region'' in jet events and, for a fixed window in jet p {sub perpendicular} {sub to}, propose to measure several discriminating quantities as a function of the level of activity in the transverse region. The measurement of these observables in LHC data would reveal whether, e.g., the properties of ''low-UE'' events are compatible with equivalent measurements in e{sup +}e{sup -} collisions (jet universality), and whether the scaling behaviour towards ''high-UE'' events exhibits properties of non-trivial soft-QCD dynamics, such as colour reconnections or other collective phenomena. We illustrate at √(s) = 13 TeV that significant discriminatory power is obtained in comparisons between MC models with varying treatments of collective effects, including Pythia 8, epos, and Dipsy. (orig.)

Classification of passive auditory event-related potentials using discriminant analysis and self-organizing feature maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönweiler, R; Wübbelt, P; Tolloczko, R; Rose, C; Ptok, M

2000-01-01

Discriminant analysis (DA) and self-organizing feature maps (SOFM) were used to classify passively evoked auditory event-related potentials (ERP) P(1), N(1), P(2) and N(2). Responses from 16 children with severe behavioral auditory perception deficits, 16 children with marked behavioral auditory perception deficits, and 14 controls were examined. Eighteen ERP amplitude parameters were selected for examination of statistical differences between the groups. Different DA methods and SOFM configurations were trained to the values. SOFM had better classification results than DA methods. Subsequently, measures on another 37 subjects that were unknown for the trained SOFM were used to test the reliability of the system. With 10-dimensional vectors, reliable classifications were obtained that matched behavioral auditory perception deficits in 96%, implying central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). The results also support the assumption that CAPD includes a 'non-peripheral' auditory processing deficit. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Uncovering gender discrimination cues in a realistic setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupuis-Roy, Nicolas; Fortin, Isabelle; Fiset, Daniel; Gosselin, Frédéric

2009-02-10

Which face cues do we use for gender discrimination? Few studies have tried to answer this question and the few that have tried typically used only a small set of grayscale stimuli, often distorted and presented a large number of times. Here, we reassessed the importance of facial cues for gender discrimination in a more realistic setting. We applied Bubbles-a technique that minimizes bias toward specific facial features and does not necessitate the distortion of stimuli-to a set of 300 color photographs of Caucasian faces, each presented only once to 30 participants. Results show that the region of the eyes and the eyebrows-probably in the light-dark channel-is the most important facial cue for accurate gender discrimination; and that the mouth region is driving fast correct responses (but not fast incorrect responses)-the gender discrimination information in the mouth region is concentrated in the red-green color channel. Together, these results suggest that, when color is informative in the mouth region, humans use it and respond rapidly; and, when it's not informative, they have to rely on the more robust but more sluggish luminance information in the eye-eyebrow region.

Neighborhood racial discrimination and the development of major depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Daniel W; Clavél, Frederick D; Cutrona, Carolyn E; Abraham, W Todd; Burzette, Rebecca G

2018-02-01

This study examined the impact of neighborhood racial discrimination on the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a sample of African American women. Participants were 499 women from Georgia and Iowa with no history of MDD who were followed for 9 to 11 years. Several neighborhood characteristics (community social disorder, community cohesion, and community racism) and individual characteristics (negative life events, financial strain, personal outlook, religious involvement, relationship quality, negative affectivity, and individual experiences of racism) were employed as predictors of whether or not the women met criteria for MDD during this period of time. In a multilevel logistic regression analysis, neighborhood-level discrimination as well as individual-level variables including the number of negative life events, financial strain, and negative affectivity were found to be significant predictors of developing MDD. Analyses of cross-level interactions indicated that the effects of neighborhood-level discrimination were moderated by the quality of individuals' relationships, such that better relationships with others served to lessen the effect of neighborhood discrimination on depression. Implications of these findings for understanding the negative effects of racial discrimination are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Distributed Topological Convex Hull Estimation of Event Region in Wireless Sensor Networks without Location Information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guo, Peng; Cao, Jiannong; Zhang, Kui

2015-01-01

In critical event (e.g., fire or gas) monitoring applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), convex hull of the event region is an efficient tool in handling the usual tasks like event report, routes reconstruction and human motion planning. Existing works on estimating convex hull of event

Psilocybin modulates functional connectivity of the amygdala during emotional face discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimm, O; Kraehenmann, R; Preller, K H; Seifritz, E; Vollenweider, F X

2018-04-24

Recent studies suggest that the antidepressant effects of the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin are mediated through its modulatory properties on prefrontal and limbic brain regions including the amygdala. To further investigate the effects of psilocybin on emotion processing networks, we studied for the first-time psilocybin's acute effects on amygdala seed-to-voxel connectivity in an event-related face discrimination task in 18 healthy volunteers who received psilocybin and placebo in a double-blind balanced cross-over design. The amygdala has been implicated as a salience detector especially involved in the immediate response to emotional face content. We used beta-series amygdala seed-to-voxel connectivity during an emotional face discrimination task to elucidate the connectivity pattern of the amygdala over the entire brain. When we compared psilocybin to placebo, an increase in reaction time for all three categories of affective stimuli was found. Psilocybin decreased the connectivity between amygdala and the striatum during angry face discrimination. During happy face discrimination, the connectivity between the amygdala and the frontal pole was decreased. No effect was seen during discrimination of fearful faces. Thus, we show psilocybin's effect as a modulator of major connectivity hubs of the amygdala. Psilocybin decreases the connectivity between important nodes linked to emotion processing like the frontal pole or the striatum. Future studies are needed to clarify whether connectivity changes predict therapeutic effects in psychiatric patients. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

A Temporal Discriminability Account of Children's Eyewitness Suggestibility

Science.gov (United States)

Bright-Paul, Alexandra; Jarrold, Christopher

2009-01-01

Children's suggestibility is typically measured using a three-stage "event-misinformation-test" procedure. We examined whether suggestibility is influenced by the time delays imposed between these stages, and in particular whether the temporal discriminability of sources (event and misinformation) predicts performance. In a novel approach, the…

Stressful life events and psychological dysfunction in complex regional pain syndrome type I

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geertzen, JHB; de Bruijn-Kofman, AT; de Bruijn, HP; van de Wiel, HBM; Dijkstra, PU

Objective: To determine to what extent stressful life events and psychological dysfunction play a role in the pathogenesis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type I (CRPS). Design: A comparative study between a CRPS group and a control group. Stressful life events and psychological dysfunction

MALDI imaging mass spectrometry: Discrimination of pathophysiological regions in traumatized skeletal muscle by characteristic peptide signatures

OpenAIRE

Klein, O.; Strohschein, K.; Nebrich, G.; Oetjen, J.; Trede, D.; Thiele, H.; Alexandrov, T.; Giavalisco, P.; Duda, G.N.; Roth, P. von; Geissler, S.; Klose, J.; Winkler, T.

2014-01-01

Due to formation of fibrosis and the loss of contractile muscle tissue, severe muscle injuries often result in insufficient healing marked by a significant reduction of muscle force and motor activity. Our previous studies demonstrated that the local transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells into an injured skeletal muscle of the rat improves the functional outcome of the healing process. Since, due to the lack of sufficient markers, the accurate discrimination of pathophysiological region...

Discrimination? - Exhibition of posters

OpenAIRE

Jakimovska, Jana

2017-01-01

Participation in the exhibition with the students form the Art Academy. The exhibition consisted of 15 posters tackling the subjects of hate speech and discrimination. The exhibition happened thanks to the invitation of the Faculty of Law at UGD, and it was a part of a larger event of launching books on the aforementioned subjects.

A global earthquake discrimination scheme to optimize ground-motion prediction equation selection

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Daniel; Wald, David J.; Hearne, Michael

2012-01-01

We present a new automatic earthquake discrimination procedure to determine in near-real time the tectonic regime and seismotectonic domain of an earthquake, its most likely source type, and the corresponding ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) class to be used in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global ShakeMap system. This method makes use of the Flinn–Engdahl regionalization scheme, seismotectonic information (plate boundaries, global geology, seismicity catalogs, and regional and local studies), and the source parameters available from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in the minutes following an earthquake to give the best estimation of the setting and mechanism of the event. Depending on the tectonic setting, additional criteria based on hypocentral depth, style of faulting, and regional seismicity may be applied. For subduction zones, these criteria include the use of focal mechanism information and detailed interface models to discriminate among outer-rise, upper-plate, interface, and intraslab seismicity. The scheme is validated against a large database of recent historical earthquakes. Though developed to assess GMPE selection in Global ShakeMap operations, we anticipate a variety of uses for this strategy, from real-time processing systems to any analysis involving tectonic classification of sources from seismic catalogs.

A method to classify neutrino events according to there completeness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armenise, N.; Iaselli, G.

1984-01-01

Complete neutrino events are separated from the total sample with a discriminant analysis in a many fold space described in the text. Two new powerfull variables are found which discriminate with high efficiency and tag the event type as far as the completeness is concerned

Climate Change, Extreme Weather Events, and Human Health Implications in the Asia Pacific Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, Jamal Hisham; Hashim, Zailina

2016-03-01

The Asia Pacific region is regarded as the most disaster-prone area of the world. Since 2000, 1.2 billion people have been exposed to hydrometeorological hazards alone through 1215 disaster events. The impacts of climate change on meteorological phenomena and environmental consequences are well documented. However, the impacts on health are more elusive. Nevertheless, climate change is believed to alter weather patterns on the regional scale, giving rise to extreme weather events. The impacts from extreme weather events are definitely more acute and traumatic in nature, leading to deaths and injuries, as well as debilitating and fatal communicable diseases. Extreme weather events include heat waves, cold waves, floods, droughts, hurricanes, tropical cyclones, heavy rain, and snowfalls. Globally, within the 20-year period from 1993 to 2012, more than 530 000 people died as a direct result of almost 15 000 extreme weather events, with losses of more than US$2.5 trillion in purchasing power parity. © 2015 APJPH.

Cloud Statistics and Discrimination in the Polar Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, M.; Comiso, J. C.

2012-12-01

Despite their important role in the climate system, cloud cover and their statistics are poorly known, especially in the polar regions, where clouds are difficult to discriminate from snow covered surfaces. The advent of the A-train, which included Aqua/MODIS, CALIPSO/CALIOP and CloudSat/CPR sensors has provided an opportunity to improve our ability to accurately characterize the cloud cover. MODIS provides global coverage at a relatively good temporal and spatial resolution while CALIOP and CPR provide limited nadir sampling but accurate characterization of the vertical structure and phase of the cloud cover. Over the polar regions, cloud detection from a passive sensors like MODIS is challenging because of the presence of cold and highly reflective surfaces such as snow, sea-ice, glaciers, and ice-sheet, which have surface signatures similar to those of clouds. On the other hand, active sensors such as CALIOP and CPR are not only very sensitive to the presence of clouds but can also provide information about its microphysical characteristics. However, these nadir-looking sensors have sparse spatial coverage and their global data can have data spatial gaps of up to 100 km. We developed a polar cloud detection system for MODIS that is trained using collocated data from CALIOP and CPR. In particular, we employ a machine learning system that reads the radiative profile observed by MODIS and determine whether the field of view is cloudy or clear. Results have shown that the improved cloud detection scheme performs better than typical cloud mask algorithms using a validation data set not used for training. A one-year data set was generated and results indicate that daytime cloud detection accuracies improved from 80.1% to 92.6% (over sea-ice) and 71.2% to 87.4% (over ice-sheet) with CALIOP data used as the baseline. Significant improvements are also observed during nighttime, where cloud detection accuracies increase by 19.8% (over sea-ice) and 11.6% (over ice

Discriminant analysis of plasma fusion data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kardaun, O.J.W.F.; Kardaun, J.W.P.F.; Itoh, S.; Itoh, K.

1992-06-01

Several discriminant analysis methods has been applied and compared to predict the type of ELM's in H-mode discharges: (a) quadratic discriminant analysis (linear discriminant analysis being a special case), (b) discrimination by non-parametric (kernel-) density estimates, and (c) discrimination by a product multinomial model on a discretised scale. Practical evaluation was performed using SAS in the first two cases, and INDEP, a standard FORTRAN program, initially developed for medical applications, in the last case. We give here a flavour of the approach and its results. In summary, discriminant analysis can be used as a useful descriptive method of specifying regions where particular types of plasma discharges can be produced. Parametric methods have the advantage of a rather compact mathematical formulation . Pertinent graphical representations are useful to make the theory and the results more palatable to the experimental physicists. (J.P.N.)

A Suite of Discriminants for Ground-Truth Mining Events in the Western U.S. and Its Implications for Discrimination Capability in Russia

Science.gov (United States)

2008-09-01

of up to 1000 individual boreholes is filled with 5000 to 10,000 lbs of material and delay fired over several seconds. The explosive array is...delay-fired mining events using seismic arrays : Application to the PDAR array in Wyoming, USA, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 97: pp .989–1001. Arrowsmith...regional seismic stations in monitoring areas of interest, particularly in countries where mining efforts are significant to the economy. As with other

Prehistoric land use and Neolithisation in Europe in the context of regional climate events

Science.gov (United States)

Lemmen, C.; Wirtz, K. W.; Gronenborn, D.

2009-04-01

We present a simple, adaptation-driven, spatially explicit model of pre-Bronze age socio-technological change, called the Global Land Use and Technological Evolution Simulator (GLUES). The socio-technological realm is described by three characteristic traits: available technology, subsistence style ratio, and economic diversity. Human population and culture develop in the context of global paleoclimate and regional paleoclimate events. Global paleoclimate is derived from CLIMBER-2 Earth System Model anomalies superimposed on the IIASA temperature and precipitation database. Regional a forcing is provided by abrupt climate deteriorations from a compilation of 138 long-term high-resolution climate proxy time series from mostly terrestrial and near-shore archives. The GLUES simulator provides for a novel way to explore the interplay between climate, climate change, and cultural evolution both on the Holocene timescale as well as for short-term extreme event periods. We sucessfully simulate the migration of people and the diffusion of Neolithic technology from the Near East into Europe in the period 12000-4000 a BP. We find good agreement with recent archeological compilations of Western Eurasian Neolithic sites. No causal relationship between climate events and cultural evolution could be identified, but the speed of cultural development is found to be modulated by the frequency of climate events. From the demographic evolution and regional ressource consumption, we estimate regional land use change and prehistoric greenhouse gas emissions.

Probabilistic discrimination between liquid rainfall events, hailstorms, biomass burning and industrial fires from C-Band Radar Polarimetric Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Valencia, J. M.; Sepúlveda, J.; Hoyos, C.; Herrera, L.

2017-12-01

Characterization and identification of fire and hailstorm events using weather radar data in a tropical complex topography region is an important task in risk management and agriculture. Polarimetric variables from a C-Band Dual polarization weather radar have potential uses in particle classification, due to the relationship their sensitivity to shape, spatial orientation, size and fall behavior of particles. In this sense, three forest fires and two chemical fires were identified for the Áburra Valley regions. Measurements were compared between each fire event type and with typical data radar retrievals for liquid precipitation events. Results of this analysis show different probability density functions for each type of event according to the particles present in them. This is very important and useful result for early warning systems to avoid precipitation false alarms during fire events within the study region, as well as for the early detection of fires using radar retrievals in remote cases. The comparative methodology is extended to hailstorm cases. Complementary sensors like laser precipitation sensors (LPM) disdrometers and meteorological stations were used to select dates of solid precipitation occurrence. Then, in this dates weather radar data variables were taken in pixels surrounding the stations and solid precipitation polar values were statistically compared with liquid precipitation values. Spectrum precipitation measured by LPM disdrometer helps to define typical features like particles number, fall velocities and diameters for both precipitation types. In addition, to achieve a complete hailstorm characterization, other meteorological variables were analyzed: wind field from meteorological stations and radar wind profiler, profiling data from Micro Rain Radar (MRR), and thermodynamic data from a microwave radiometer.

A discrimination problem from seismology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elvers, E.

1975-12-01

Seismic discrimination between earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions is studied, utilizing magnitudes of two kinds from several seismic stations. A model is given first, where the mean values of the magnitudes are linear fuctions of a parameter describing event size. It is shown how the model parameters can be estimated after a minor restriction on their space. When the discrimination rule is derived from the model, a few different approaches are considered, and they are shown to coincide. It is found reasonabel to use a discriminant, which is linear in the magnitudes, and explicit formulas are obtained. The power of the method is expressed by a measure of separation between the alternatives, which also shows the importance of the individual magnitudes. Missing data is a frequent problem in practice, and the case is treated where there is a detection threshold for one of the magnitudes. The classicfication probabilities are computed when applying the rule to the available magnitudes, and they depend on the event size. The method is not optimal, and it is shown that it can be improved by using the technique of identification by negative evidence, i.e. by utilizing the threshold as upper bound for a missing magnitude. The model is one of general use, and the results thus have a wider applicability. (author)

Extreme temperature events on Greenland in observations and the MAR regional climate model

Science.gov (United States)

Leeson, Amber A.; Eastoe, Emma; Fettweis, Xavier

2018-03-01

Meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet contributed 1.7-6.12 mm to global sea level between 1993 and 2010 and is expected to contribute 20-110 mm to future sea level rise by 2100. These estimates were produced by regional climate models (RCMs) which are known to be robust at the ice sheet scale but occasionally miss regional- and local-scale climate variability (e.g. Leeson et al., 2017; Medley et al., 2013). To date, the fidelity of these models in the context of short-period variability in time (i.e. intra-seasonal) has not been fully assessed, for example their ability to simulate extreme temperature events. We use an event identification algorithm commonly used in extreme value analysis, together with observations from the Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net), to assess the ability of the MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional) RCM to reproduce observed extreme positive-temperature events at 14 sites around Greenland. We find that MAR is able to accurately simulate the frequency and duration of these events but underestimates their magnitude by more than half a degree Celsius/kelvin, although this bias is much smaller than that exhibited by coarse-scale Era-Interim reanalysis data. As a result, melt energy in MAR output is underestimated by between 16 and 41 % depending on global forcing applied. Further work is needed to precisely determine the drivers of extreme temperature events, and why the model underperforms in this area, but our findings suggest that biases are passed into MAR from boundary forcing data. This is important because these forcings are common between RCMs and their range of predictions of past and future ice sheet melting. We propose that examining extreme events should become a routine part of global and regional climate model evaluation and that addressing shortcomings in this area should be a priority for model development.

Two centuries of extreme events over the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions

Science.gov (United States)

Stendel, Martin; den Besselaar Else, van; Abdel, Hannachi; Jaak, Jaagus; Elizabeth, Kent; Christiana, Lefebvre; Gudrun, Rosenhagen; Anna, Rutgersson; Frederik, Schenk; der Schrier Gerard, van; Tim, Woolings

2017-04-01

Two centuries of extreme events over the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions In the framework of the BACC 2 (for the Baltic Sea) and NOSCCA projects (for the North Sea region), studies of past and present variability and changes in atmospheric variables within the North Sea region over the instrumental period (roughly the past 200 years) have been investigated. Findings on trends in temperature and precipitation have already been presented. Here we focus on data homogeneity issues and examine how reliable reanalyses are in this context. Unlike most other regions in the world, there is a wealth of old observations available for the Baltic and North Sea regions, most of it in handwritten form in meteorological journals and other publications. These datasets need to be carefully digitised and homogenized. For this, a thorough quality control must be applied; otherwise the digitised datasets may prove useless or even counterproductive. We present evidence that this step cannot be conducted without human interference and thus cannot be fully automated. Furthermore, inhomogeneities due to e.g. instrumentation and station relocations need to be addressed. A wealth of reanalysis products is available, which can help detect such inhomogeneities in observed time series, but at the same time are prone to biases and/or spurious trends themselves e.g. introduced by changes in the availability and quality of the underlying assimilated data. It therefore in general remains unclear in how far we can simulate the pre-satellite era with respect to homogeneity with reanalyses based only on parts of the observing system. Extreme events and changes in extreme situations are more important and of greater (societal) significance than changes in mean climate. However, changes in extreme weather events are difficult to assess not only because they are, per definition, rare events, but also due to the homogeneity issues outlined above. Taking these into account, we present evidence for changes

Efficient Banknote Recognition Based on Selection of Discriminative Regions with One-Dimensional Visible-Light Line Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Young Ho; Kwon, Seung Yong; Park, Kang Ryoung; Jeong, Dae Sik; Yoon, Sungsoo

2016-03-04

Banknote papers are automatically recognized and classified in various machines, such as vending machines, automatic teller machines (ATM), and banknote-counting machines. Previous studies on automatic classification of banknotes have been based on the optical characteristics of banknote papers. On each banknote image, there are regions more distinguishable than others in terms of banknote types, sides, and directions. However, there has been little previous research on banknote recognition that has addressed the selection of distinguishable areas. To overcome this problem, we propose a method for recognizing banknotes by selecting more discriminative regions based on similarity mapping, using images captured by a one-dimensional visible light line sensor. Experimental results with various types of banknote databases show that our proposed method outperforms previous methods.

Efficient Banknote Recognition Based on Selection of Discriminative Regions with One-Dimensional Visible-Light Line Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tuyen Danh Pham

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Banknote papers are automatically recognized and classified in various machines, such as vending machines, automatic teller machines (ATM, and banknote-counting machines. Previous studies on automatic classification of banknotes have been based on the optical characteristics of banknote papers. On each banknote image, there are regions more distinguishable than others in terms of banknote types, sides, and directions. However, there has been little previous research on banknote recognition that has addressed the selection of distinguishable areas. To overcome this problem, we propose a method for recognizing banknotes by selecting more discriminative regions based on similarity mapping, using images captured by a one-dimensional visible light line sensor. Experimental results with various types of banknote databases show that our proposed method outperforms previous methods.

Prototypes and same-gender bias in perceptions of hiring discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlsson, Rickard; Sinclair, Samantha

2018-01-01

The present study investigated the relative importance of two explanations behind perceptions of gender discrimination in hiring: prototypes and same-gender bias. According to the prototype explanation, people perceive an event as discrimination to the extent that it fits their preconceptions of typical discrimination. In contrast, the same-gender bias explanation asserts that people more readily detect discrimination toward members of their own gender. In four experiments (n = 797), women and men made considerably stronger discrimination attributions, and were moderately more discouraged from seeking work, when the victim was female rather than male. Further, a series of regressions analyses showed beliefs in discrimination of women to be moderately correlated with discrimination attributions of female victims, but little added explanatory value of participant gender, stigma consciousness, or feminist identification. The results offer strong support for the prototype explanation.

Dynamic functional brain networks involved in simple visual discrimination learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Fidalgo, Camino; Conejo, Nélida María; González-Pardo, Héctor; Arias, Jorge Luis

2014-10-01

Visual discrimination tasks have been widely used to evaluate many types of learning and memory processes. However, little is known about the brain regions involved at different stages of visual discrimination learning. We used cytochrome c oxidase histochemistry to evaluate changes in regional brain oxidative metabolism during visual discrimination learning in a water-T maze at different time points during training. As compared with control groups, the results of the present study reveal the gradual activation of cortical (prefrontal and temporal cortices) and subcortical brain regions (including the striatum and the hippocampus) associated to the mastery of a simple visual discrimination task. On the other hand, the brain regions involved and their functional interactions changed progressively over days of training. Regions associated with novelty, emotion, visuo-spatial orientation and motor aspects of the behavioral task seem to be relevant during the earlier phase of training, whereas a brain network comprising the prefrontal cortex was found along the whole learning process. This study highlights the relevance of functional interactions among brain regions to investigate learning and memory processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Theory of mind for processing unexpected events across contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Dungan, James A; Stepanovic, Michael; Young, Liane

2016-08-01

Theory of mind, or mental state reasoning, may be particularly useful for making sense of unexpected events. Here, we investigated unexpected behavior across both social and non-social contexts in order to characterize the precise role of theory of mind in processing unexpected events. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how people respond to unexpected outcomes when initial expectations were based on (i) an object's prior behavior, (ii) an agent's prior behavior and (iii) an agent's mental states. Consistent with prior work, brain regions for theory of mind were preferentially recruited when people first formed expectations about social agents vs non-social objects. Critically, unexpected vs expected outcomes elicited greater activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which also discriminated in its spatial pattern of activity between unexpected and expected outcomes for social events. In contrast, social vs non-social events elicited greater activity in precuneus across both expected and unexpected outcomes. Finally, given prior information about an agent's behavior, unexpected vs expected outcomes elicited an especially robust response in right temporoparietal junction, and the magnitude of this difference across participants correlated negatively with autistic-like traits. Together, these findings illuminate the distinct contributions of brain regions for theory of mind for processing unexpected events across contexts. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Protein Nanopore-Based Discrimination between Selected Neutral Amino Acids from Polypeptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Asandei, Alina; Rossini, Aldo E; Chinappi, Mauro; Park, Yoonkyung; Luchian, Tudor

2017-12-19

Nanopore probing of biological polymers has the potential to achieve single-molecule sequencing at low cost, high throughput, portability, and minimal sample preparation and apparatus. In this article, we explore the possibility of discrimination between neutral amino acid residues from the primary structure of 30 amino acids long, engineered peptides, through the analysis of single-molecule ionic current fluctuations accompanying their slowed-down translocation across the wild type α-hemolysin (α-HL) nanopore, and molecular dynamics simulations. We found that the transient presence inside the α-HL of alanine or tryptophan residues from the primary sequence of engineered peptides results in distinct features of the ionic current fluctuation pattern associated with the peptide reversibly blocking the nanopore. We propose that α-HL sensitivity to the molecular exclusion at the most constricted region mediates ionic current blockade events correlated with the volumes that are occluded by at least three alanine or tryptophan residues, and provides the specificity needed to discriminate between groups of neutral amino acids. Further, we find that the pattern of current fluctuations depends on the orientation of the threaded amino acid residues, suggestive of a conformational anisotropy of the ensemble of conformations of the peptide on the restricted nanopore region, related to its relative axial orientation inside the nanopore.

Decision theory for discrimination-aware classification

KAUST Repository

Kamiran, Faisal

2012-12-01

Social discrimination (e.g., against females) arising from data mining techniques is a growing concern worldwide. In recent years, several methods have been proposed for making classifiers learned over discriminatory data discriminationaware. However, these methods suffer from two major shortcomings: (1) They require either modifying the discriminatory data or tweaking a specific classification algorithm and (2) They are not flexible w.r.t. discrimination control and multiple sensitive attribute handling. In this paper, we present two solutions for discrimination-aware classification that neither require data modification nor classifier tweaking. Our first and second solutions exploit, respectively, the reject option of probabilistic classifier(s) and the disagreement region of general classifier ensembles to reduce discrimination. We relate both solutions with decision theory for better understanding of the process. Our experiments using real-world datasets demonstrate that our solutions outperform existing state-ofthe-art methods, especially at low discrimination which is a significant advantage. The superior performance coupled with flexible control over discrimination and easy applicability to multiple sensitive attributes makes our solutions an important step forward in practical discrimination-aware classification. © 2012 IEEE.

Gamma–neutron imaging system utilizing pulse shape discrimination with CLYC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitney, Chad M.; Soundara-Pandian, Lakshmi; Johnson, Erik B.; Vogel, Sam; Vinci, Bob; Squillante, Michael; Glodo, Jarek; Christian, James F.

2015-01-01

Recently, RMD has investigated the use of CLYC (Cs 2 LiYCl 6 :Ce), a new and emerging scintillation material, in a gamma–neutron coded aperture imaging system based on RMD's commercial RadCam TM instrument. CLYC offers efficient thermal neutron detection, fast neutron detection capabilities, excellent pulse shape discrimination (PSD), and gamma-ray energy resolution as good as 4% at 662 keV. PSD improves the isolation of higher energy gammas from thermal neutron interactions (>3 MeV electron equivalent peak), compared to conventional pulse height techniques. The scintillation emission time in CLYC provides the basis for PSD; where neutron interactions result in a slower emission rise and decay components while gamma interactions result in a faster emission components. By creating a population plot based on the ratio of the decay tail compared to the total integral amplitude (PSD ratio), discrimination of gammas, thermal neutrons, and fast neutrons is possible. Previously, we characterized the CLYC-based RadCam system for imaging gammas and neutrons using a layered W-Cd coded aperture mask and employing only pulse height discrimination. In this paper, we present the latest results which investigate gamma-neutron imaging capabilities using PSD. An FPGA system is used to acquire the CLYC–PSPMT last dynode signals, determine a PSD ratio for each event, and compare it to a calibrated PSD cutoff. Each event is assigned either a gamma (low) or neutron (high) flag signal which is then correlated with the imaging information for each event. - Highlights: • The latest results are presented for our CLYC RadCam-2 system which investigate gamma–neutron imaging using pulse shape discrimination. • CLYC RadCam-2 system successfully discriminates gammas, thermal neutrons, and fast neutrons by employing a fully integrated, FPGA-based PSD system. • Imaging of our 252 Cf source was possible using both pulse height and pulse shape discrimination with CLYC. • Imaging

Science without meritocracy. Discrimination among European specialists in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology: a questionnaire survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Tacconelli, Evelina; Poljak, Mario; Cacace, Marina; Caiati, Giovanni; Benzonana, Nur; Nagy, Elisabeth; Kortbeek, Titia

2012-01-01

In 2009, in a European survey, around a quarter of Europeans reported witnessing discrimination or harassment at their workplace. The parity committee from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) designed a questionnaire survey to investigate forms of discrimination with respect to country, gender and ethnicity among medical professionals in hospitals and universities carrying out activities in the clinical microbiology (CM) and infectious diseases (ID) fields. The survey consisted of 61 questions divided into five areas (sociodemographic, professional census and environment, leadership and generic) and ran anonymously for nearly 3 months on the ESCMID website. European specialists in CM/ID. Overall, we included 1274 professionals. The majority of respondents (68%) stated that discrimination is present in medical science. A quarter of them reported personal experience with discrimination, mainly associated with gender and geographic region. Specialists from South-Western Europe experienced events at a much higher rate (37%) than other European regions. The proportion of women among full professor was on average 46% in CM and 26% in ID. Participation in high-level decision-making committees was significantly (>10 percentage points) different by gender and geographic origin. Yearly gross salary among CM/ID professionals was significantly different among European countries and by gender, within the same country. More than one-third of respondents (38%) stated that international societies in CM/ID have an imbalance as for committee member distribution and speakers at international conferences. A quarter of CM/ID specialists experienced career and research discrimination in European hospitals and universities, mainly related to gender and geographic origin. Implementing proactive policies to tackle discrimination and improve representativeness and balance in career among CM/ID professionals in Europe is urgently needed.

Performance of n-γ pulse-shape discrimination with simple pile-up rejection at high γ-ray count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okuda, T.; Yamazaki, H.; Kawabata, M.; Kasagi, J.; Harada, H.

1999-01-01

The performance of n-γ pulse-shape discrimination for a liquid scintillation detector has been investigated for γ-ray count rates up to 50 kcps. A method in which the ratio of the total to partial charge in the anode pulse is directly measured has shown much improved quality of the pulse-shape discrimination when pile-up events are rejected; it can discriminate neutron events of 50 cps from γ-ray events of 29 kcps. The method with simple pile-up rejection has the advantage that only general purpose electronics are required

Extrastriate cortical areas activated during visual discrimination in man

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roland, PE

1981-01-01

The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 254 different regions of the human extrastriate cerebral cortex during rest and during visual shape discrimination. Visual shape discrimination increased the rCBF markedly in the frontal eye fields, the upper part of the prefrontal cortex, t......, the lateral occipital cortex and the superior parietal cortex. Moderate increases of rCBF appeared in the inferotemporal cortex, the parietotemporo-occipital region and scattered in the lateral part of the prefrontal cortex....

Discriminating the reaction types of plant type III polyketide synthases.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, Yugo; Ogata, Hiroyuki; Goto, Susumu

2017-07-01

Functional prediction of paralogs is challenging in bioinformatics because of rapid functional diversification after gene duplication events combined with parallel acquisitions of similar functions by different paralogs. Plant type III polyketide synthases (PKSs), producing various secondary metabolites, represent a paralogous family that has undergone gene duplication and functional alteration. Currently, there is no computational method available for the functional prediction of type III PKSs. We developed a plant type III PKS reaction predictor, pPAP, based on the recently proposed classification of type III PKSs. pPAP combines two kinds of similarity measures: one calculated by profile hidden Markov models (pHMMs) built from functionally and structurally important partial sequence regions, and the other based on mutual information between residue positions. pPAP targets PKSs acting on ring-type starter substrates, and classifies their functions into four reaction types. The pHMM approach discriminated two reaction types with high accuracy (97.5%, 39/40), but its accuracy decreased when discriminating three reaction types (87.8%, 43/49). When combined with a correlation-based approach, all 49 PKSs were correctly discriminated, and pPAP was still highly accurate (91.4%, 64/70) even after adding other reaction types. These results suggest pPAP, which is based on linear discriminant analyses of similarity measures, is effective for plant type III PKS function prediction. pPAP is freely available at ftp://ftp.genome.jp/pub/tools/ppap/. goto@kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Neural correlates supporting sensory discrimination after left hemisphere stroke

Science.gov (United States)

Borstad, Alexandra; Schmalbrock, Petra; Choi, Seongjin; Nichols-Larsen, Deborah S.

2012-01-01

Background Nearly half of stroke patients have impaired sensory discrimination, however, the neural structures that support post-stroke sensory function have not been described. Objectives 1) To evaluate the role of the primary somatosensory (S1) cortex in post-stroke sensory discrimination and 2) To determine the relationship between post-stroke sensory discrimination and structural integrity of the sensory component of the superior thalamic radiation (sSTR). Methods 10 healthy adults and 10 individuals with left hemisphere stroke participated. Stroke participants completed sensory discrimination testing. An fMRI was conducted during right, impaired hand sensory discrimination. Fractional anisotropy and volume of the sSTR were quantified using diffusion tensor tractography. Results Sensory discrimination was impaired in 60% of participants with left stroke. Peak activation in the left (S1) did not correlate with sensory discrimination ability, rather a more distributed pattern of activation was evident in post-stroke subjects with a positive correlation between peak activation in the parietal cortex and discrimination ability (r=.70, p=.023). The only brain region in which stroke participants had significantly different cortical activation than control participants was the precuneus. Region of interest analysis of the precuneus across stroke participants revealed a positive correlation between peak activation and sensory discrimination ability (r=.77, p=.008). The L/R ratio of sSTR fractional anisotropy also correlated with right hand sensory discrimination (r=.69, p=.027). Conclusions Precuneus cortex, distributed parietal lobe activity, and microstructure of the sSTR support sensory discrimination after left hemisphere stroke. PMID:22592076

Discrimination between intact and decayed pulp regions in carious teeth by ADC mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Cankar, Ksenija; Nemeth, Lidija; Bajd, Franci; Vidmar, Jernej; Serša, Igor

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate an advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mapping, in the functional assessment of carious teeth. 38 extracted human teeth with scores of 0, 3 and 6 according to International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) criteria were screened and subsequently analyzed by MRI at 2.35 T. Histology sectioning of teeth was used for the gold standard by analyzing two extreme cases (intact and severely decayed). ADC maps of the same teeth were calculated from corresponding diffusion-weighted images and used to obtain ADC distributions along dental pulp as functions of the relative pulp length measured from the occlusal pulp side. The measured distributions were analyzed for the best fit by a four-parameter three-segment linear regression model for ADC distribution along the pulp. MRI results were in good agreement with findings in histological sections of identical teeth. The best fit model parameters, relative decayed region depth, relative transition region width and ADC values of intact and decayed pulp tissue, showed statistically significant differences between the ADC values of intact and decayed pulp tissue (1.0 × 10(-9) m(2)/s vs. 0.74-0.89 × 10(-9) m(2)/s) and the relative decayed region depth progressing with ICDAS score (3 vs. 46% with ICDAS 3 vs. ICDAS 6). The results of this feasibility study confirmed relevance of ADC mapping for the discrimination and localization of intact and decayed regions in dental pulps of carious teeth. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Measurement of the Inclusive and Fiducial Cross-Section of Single Top-Quark $t$-Channel Events in $pp$ Collisions at $\\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV

CERN Document Server

The ATLAS collaboration

2014-01-01

This note presents the measurement of a $t$-channel single top-quark production fiducial cross-section in the lepton+jets channel with 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of 8 TeV data using a neural-network discriminant. Events are selected by requiring exactly two jets, where one of the jets is required to be $b$-tagged. Signal events from $t$-channel single top-quark processes are enhanced using a neural-network discriminant based on final-state observables. The $t$-channel production cross-section in the fiducial region is obtained from a binned maximum-likelihood fit to the neural-network discriminant. A fiducial cross-section quoted within the detector acceptance of $\\sigma_{\\rm fid} = 3.37 \\pm 0.05 \\, (\\mathrm{stat.}) \\pm 0.47 \\, (\\mathrm{syst.}) \\pm 0.09 \\, (\\mathrm{lumi.})~\\text{pb}$ is obtained. The total inclusive $t$-channel cross-section is calculated using the acceptance predicted by various Monte Carlo generators. If the acceptance from the aMC@NLO+Herwig event generator is used, a value of $\\sigma_t = 82.6 \\pm 1.2...

Discrimination and victimization: parade for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride, in Chile.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrientos, Jaime; Silva, Jimena; Catalan, Susan; Gomez, Fabiola; Longueira, Jimena

2010-01-01

This article describes the population participating in the LGBT Pride Parade in Santiago, Chile, from discrimination and victimization standpoints. The sample consisted of 488 subjects older than 18 years (M = 25.1), who were interviewed during the 2007 event. For this purpose, a questionnaire from the Latin American Centre of Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM) was adapted and administered. Approximately 35% of respondents reported having experimented school, religious, or neighborhood discrimination. The more discriminated are transgender people. Approximately three fourths of respondents reported experiencing ridicule and almost 60% reported experiencing insults or threats. Transgender were significantly more likely than gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals to experience discrimination or victimization events. Finally, the parade acquired an important social and political character in the context of a clearly homophobic society.

A gamma-ray discriminating neutron scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eschbach, P.A.; Miller, S.D.; Cole, M.C.

1994-01-01

A neutron scintillator has been developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory which responds directly to as little as 10 mrem/hour dose equivalent rate fast neutron fields. The scintillator is composed of CaF 2 :Eu or of NaI grains within a silicone rubber or polystyrene matrix, respectively. Neutrons colliding with the plastic matrix provide knockon protons, which in turn deposit energy within the grains of phosphor to produce pulses of light. Neutron interactions are discriminated from gamma-ray events on the basis of pulse height. Unlike NE-213 liquid scintillators, this solid scintillator requires no pulseshape discrimination and therefore requires less hardware. Neutron events are anywhere from two to three times larger than the gamma-ray exposures are compared to 0.7 MeV gamma-ray exposures. The CaF 2 :Eu/silicone rubber scintillator is nearly optically transparent, and can be made into a very sizable detector (4 cm x 1.5 cm) without degrading pulse height. This CaF 2 :Eu scintillator has been observed to have an absolute efficiency of 0.1% when exposed to 5-MeV accelerator-generated neutrons (where the absolute efficiency is the ratio of observed neutron events divided by the number of fast neutrons striking the detector)

Distributed hippocampal patterns that discriminate reward context are associated with enhanced associative binding.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolosin, Sasha M; Zeithamova, Dagmar; Preston, Alison R

2013-11-01

Recent research indicates that reward-based motivation impacts medial temporal lobe (MTL) encoding processes, leading to enhanced memory for rewarded events. In particular, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of motivated learning have shown that MTL activation is greater for highly rewarded events, with the degree of reward-related activation enhancement tracking the corresponding behavioral memory advantage. These studies, however, do not directly address leading theoretical perspectives that propose such reward-based enhancements in MTL encoding activation reflect enhanced discrimination of the motivational context of specific events. In this study, a high-value or low-value monetary cue preceded a pair of objects, indicating the future reward for successfully remembering the pair. Using representational similarity analysis and high-resolution fMRI, we show that MTL activation patterns are more similar for encoding trials preceded by the same versus different reward cues, indicating a distributed code in this region that distinguishes between motivational contexts. Moreover, we show that activation patterns in hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex (PHc) that differentiate reward conditions during anticipatory cues and object pairs relate to successful associative memory. Additionally, the degree to which patterns differentiate reward contexts in dentate gyrus/CA2,3 and PHc is related to individual differences in reward modulation of memory. Collectively, these findings suggest that distributed activation patterns in the human hippocampus and PHc reflect the rewards associated with individual events. Furthermore, we show that these activation patterns-which discriminate between reward conditions--may influence memory through the incorporation of information about motivational contexts into stored memory representations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Discriminative facility and its role in the perceived quality of interactional experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, C; Chiu, C Y; Hong, Y Y; Cheung, J S

2001-10-01

Discriminative facility refers to an individual's sensitivity to subtle cues about the psychological meaning of a situation. This research aimed at examining (a) the conceptual distinctiveness of discriminative facility, (b) the situation-appropriate aspect of this construct, and (c) the relationship between discriminative facility and interpersonal experiences. Discriminative facility was assessed by a new measure of situation-appropriate behaviors across a variety of novel stressful situations. Results from study 1 showed that discriminative facility had weak positive relationships with cognitive complexity and nonsignificant relationships with self-monitoring and social desirability, indicating that discriminative facility is a unique construct. Results from Study 2 revealed that higher levels of discriminative facility were associated with higher levels of perceived social support and a greater number of pleasant interpersonal events experienced, thus providing support for the theoretical proposition that discriminative facility is an aspect of social intelligence.

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

1978-01-01

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

Simulating flaring events in complex active regions driven by observed magnetograms

Science.gov (United States)

Dimitropoulou, M.; Isliker, H.; Vlahos, L.; Georgoulis, M. K.

2011-05-01

Context. We interpret solar flares as events originating in active regions that have reached the self organized critical state, by using a refined cellular automaton model with initial conditions derived from observations. Aims: We investigate whether the system, with its imposed physical elements, reaches a self organized critical state and whether well-known statistical properties of flares, such as scaling laws observed in the distribution functions of characteristic parameters, are reproduced after this state has been reached. Methods: To investigate whether the distribution functions of total energy, peak energy and event duration follow the expected scaling laws, we first applied a nonlinear force-free extrapolation that reconstructs the three-dimensional magnetic fields from two-dimensional vector magnetograms. We then locate magnetic discontinuities exceeding a threshold in the Laplacian of the magnetic field. These discontinuities are relaxed in local diffusion events, implemented in the form of cellular automaton evolution rules. Subsequent loading and relaxation steps lead the system to self organized criticality, after which the statistical properties of the simulated events are examined. Physical requirements, such as the divergence-free condition for the magnetic field vector, are approximately imposed on all elements of the model. Results: Our results show that self organized criticality is indeed reached when applying specific loading and relaxation rules. Power-law indices obtained from the distribution functions of the modeled flaring events are in good agreement with observations. Single power laws (peak and total flare energy) are obtained, as are power laws with exponential cutoff and double power laws (flare duration). The results are also compared with observational X-ray data from the GOES satellite for our active-region sample. Conclusions: We conclude that well-known statistical properties of flares are reproduced after the system has

Complex active regions as the main source of extreme and large solar proton events

Science.gov (United States)

Ishkov, V. N.

2013-12-01

A study of solar proton sources indicated that solar flare events responsible for ≥2000 pfu proton fluxes mostly occur in complex active regions (CARs), i.e., in transition structures between active regions and activity complexes. Different classes of similar structures and their relation to solar proton events (SPEs) and evolution, depending on the origination conditions, are considered. Arguments in favor of the fact that sunspot groups with extreme dimensions are CARs are presented. An analysis of the flare activity in a CAR resulted in the detection of "physical" boundaries, which separate magnetic structures of the same polarity and are responsible for the independent development of each structure.

Spatial distribution and occurrence probability of regional new particle formation events in eastern China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Shen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this work, the spatial extent of new particle formation (NPF events and the relative probability of observing particles originating from different spatial origins around three rural sites in eastern China were investigated using the NanoMap method, using particle number size distribution (PNSD data and air mass back trajectories. The length of the datasets used were 7, 1.5, and 3 years at rural sites Shangdianzi (SDZ in the North China Plain (NCP, Mt. Tai (TS in central eastern China, and Lin'an (LAN in the Yangtze River Delta region in eastern China, respectively. Regional NPF events were observed to occur with the horizontal extent larger than 500 km at SDZ and TS, favoured by the fast transport of northwesterly air masses. At LAN, however, the spatial footprint of NPF events was mostly observed around the site within 100–200 km. Difference in the horizontal spatial distribution of new particle source areas at different sites was connected to typical meteorological conditions at the sites. Consecutive large-scale regional NPF events were observed at SDZ and TS simultaneously and were associated with a high surface pressure system dominating over this area. Simultaneous NPF events at SDZ and LAN were seldom observed. At SDZ the polluted air masses arriving over the NCP were associated with higher particle growth rate (GR and new particle formation rate (J than air masses from Inner Mongolia (IM. At TS the same phenomenon was observed for J, but GR was somewhat lower in air masses arriving over the NCP compared to those arriving from IM. The capability of NanoMap to capture the NPF occurrence probability depends on the length of the dataset of PNSD measurement but also on topography around the measurement site and typical air mass advection speed during NPF events. Thus the long-term measurements of PNSD in the planetary boundary layer are necessary in the further study of spatial extent and the probability of NPF events. The spatial

How discriminating are discriminative instruments?

Science.gov (United States)

Hankins, Matthew

2008-05-27

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

How discriminating are discriminative instruments?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hankins Matthew

2008-05-01

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

Monitoring of seismic events from a specific source region using a single regional array: A case study

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbons, S. J.; Kværna, T.; Ringdal, F.

2005-07-01

In the monitoring of earthquakes and nuclear explosions using a sparse worldwide network of seismic stations, it is frequently necessary to make reliable location estimates using a single seismic array. It is also desirable to screen out routine industrial explosions automatically in order that analyst resources are not wasted upon detections which can, with a high level of confidence, be associated with such a source. The Kovdor mine on the Kola Peninsula of NW Russia is the site of frequent industrial blasts which are well recorded by the ARCES regional seismic array at a distance of approximately 300 km. We describe here an automatic procedure for identifying signals which are likely to result from blasts at the Kovdor mine and, wherever possible, for obtaining single array locations for such events. Carefully calibrated processing parameters were chosen using measurements from confirmed events at the mine over a one-year period for which the operators supplied Ground Truth information. Phase arrival times are estimated using an autoregressive method and slowness and azimuth are estimated using broadband f{-} k analysis in fixed frequency bands and time-windows fixed relative to the initial P-onset time. We demonstrate the improvement to slowness estimates resulting from the use of fixed frequency bands. Events can be located using a single array if, in addition to the P-phase, at least one secondary phase is found with both an acceptable slowness estimate and valid onset-time estimate. We evaluate the on-line system over a twelve month period; every event known to have occured at the mine is detected by the process and 32 out of 53 confirmed events were located automatically. The remaining events were classified as “very likely” Kovdor events and were subsequently located by an analyst. The false alarm rate is low; only 84 very likely Kovdor events were identified during the whole of 2003 and none of these were subsequently located at a large distance from

Regional cenozoic uplift and subsidence events in the southeastern North Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jordt, H.

1995-12-31

The Paleocene topography of the Fennoscandian Shield is indicated by outbuilding towards the Central Trough and the Ringkoebing-Fyn High. From Eocene until Pliocene time three events of relative vertical movements are indicated by changes in outbuilding directions and reflection termination patterns in the central North Sea. The firs event of uplift was in the Eocene and resulted in relative uplift of the Mid North Sea High and contemporary subsidence east of it, indicated by a change in outbuilding from north to west. A second event of uplift is indicated to the north of the study area at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary by renewed southward outbuilding in the Norwegian-Danish Basin. In Miocene until Early Pliocene time a relatively stationary, almost east-west striking, basin margin was probably located to the north along the Tornquist Zone as indicated by the continued outbuilding towards the Ringkoebing-Fyn High. A third event of relative uplift is indicated east of the study area by changes in the Pliocene outbuilding pattern. After the first event of uplift it appears that the deepest parts of the Eocene North Sea Basin was located more easterly than the deepest part are today. Apparently the two latest uplift events north and east of the study area were related to movements of, or along the Tornquist Zone or to regional uplift of the Fennoscandian Shield finally resulting in the present-day configuration of the North Sea. (au) 11 refs.

Pulse discrimination of background and gamma-ray source by digital pulse shape discrimination in a BF3 detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jinhyung; Kim, J. H.; Choi, H. D.

2014-01-01

As a representative method of non-destructive assay, accurate neutron measurement is difficult due to large background radiation such as γ-ray, secondary radiation, spurious pulse, etc. In a BF 3 detector, the process of signal generation is different between neutron and other radiations. As the development of detection technique, all of signal data can be digitized by digital measurement method. In the previous study, Applied Nuclear Physics Group in Seoul National University has developed digital Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) method using digital oscilloscope. In this study, optimization of parameters for pulse discrimination is discussed and γ-ray region is determined by measuring 60 Co source. The background signal of BF 3 detector is discriminated by digital PSD system. Parameters for PSD are optimized through FOM calculation. And the γ-ray region is determined by measuring 60 Co source. In the future, the performance of developed system will be tested in low and high intensity neutron field

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2010-01-01

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

Moment Magnitudes of Small to Moderate Size Regional Events from Coda in the Middle East

Science.gov (United States)

Gok, R.; Pasyanos, M. E.; Matzel, E.; Mayeda, K. M.; Walter, W. R.

2010-12-01

The uneven distribution of stations and heterogeneous structure of the Middle East makes it difficult to calculate reliable moment magnitudes in the region. Such magnitudes are important for event characterization, and for yield estimation applications. The complex structure of the lithosphere in the region causes significant variation in the recorded amplitude of body and surface waves that travel along different paths. These 2-D effects are most significant for small and moderate magnitude events, which are most observable at periods 4.5) at low frequencies ( < 0.5 Hz). But even using coda waves, high frequency spectra show considerable scatter. Next, we applied tomographic inversion to the geometrical spreading corrected coda amplitudes to calculate 2-D coda Q. Coda Q results agree well with direct Lg and tectonics of the region. We observe low Q in Anatolian and Iranian plateaus and high Q in Arabian Plate. Applying the 2-D correction reduced the inter-station scatter of the higher frequency spectra, allowing us to obtain reliable moment magnitude estimates for smaller events (Mw < 4.5).

A precision timing discriminator for high density detector systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turko, B.T.; Smith, R.C.

1992-01-01

Most high resolution time measurement techniques require discriminators that accurately make the time arrival of events regardless of their intensity. Constant fraction discriminators or zero-crossing discriminators are generally used. In this paper, the authors describe a zero-crossing discriminator that accurately determines the peak of a quasi-Gaussian waveform by differentiating it and detecting the resulting zero-crossing. Basically, it consists of a fast voltage comparator and tow integrating networks: an RC section and an LR section used in a way that keeps the input impedance purely resistive. A time walk of 100 ps in an amplitude range exceeding 100:1 has been achieved for wave-forms from 1.5 ns to 15 ns FWHM. An arming level discriminator is added to eliminate triggering by noise. Easily implemented in either monolithic or hybrid technology, the circuit is suitable for large multichannel detector systems where size and power dissipation are crucial. Circuit diagrams and typical measured data are also presented

Anomalous intraseasonal events in the thermocline ridge region of Southern Tropical Indian Ocean and their regional impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Jayakumar, A.; Gnanaseelan, C.

2012-03-01

The present study explores the mechanisms responsible for the strong intraseasonal cooling events in the Thermocline Ridge region of the southwestern Indian Ocean. Air sea interface and oceanic processes associated with Madden Julian Oscillation are studied using an Ocean General Circulation Model and satellite observations. Sensitivity experiments are designed to understand the ocean response to intraseasonal forcing with a special emphasis on 2002 cooling events, which recorded the strongest intraseasonal perturbations during the last well-observed decade. This event is characterized by anomalous Walker circulation over the tropical Indian Ocean and persistent intraseasonal heat flux anomaly for a longer duration than is typical for similar events (but without any favorable preconditioning of ocean basic state at the interannual timescale). The model heat budget analysis during 1996 to 2007 revealed an in-phase relationship between atmospheric fluxes associated with Madden Julian Oscillation and the subsurface oceanic processes during the intense cooling events of 2002. The strong convection, reduced shortwave radiation and increased evaporation have contributed to the upper ocean heat loss in addition to the slower propagation of active phase of convection, which supported the integration of longer duration of forcing. The sensitivity experiments revealed that dynamic response of ocean through entrainment at the intraseasonal timescale primarily controls the biological response during the event, with oceanic interannual variability playing a secondary role. This study further speculates the role of oceanic intraseasonal variability in the 2002 droughts over Indian subcontinent.

Delayed charge recovery discrimination of passivated surface alpha events in P-type point-contact detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Gruszko, J.; Majorana Collaboration

2017-09-01

The Majorana Demonstrator searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge using arrays of high-purity germanium detectors. If observed, this process would demonstrate that lepton number is not a conserved quantity in nature, with implications for grand-unification and for explaining the predominance of matter over antimatter in the universe. A problematic background in such large granular detector arrays is posed by alpha particles. In the Majorana Demonstrator, events have been observed that are consistent with energy-degraded alphas originating on the passivated surface, leading to a potential background contribution in the region-of-interest for neutrinoless double-beta decay. However, it is also observed that when energy deposition occurs very close to the passivated surface, charges drift through the bulk onto that surface, and then drift along it with greatly reduced mobility. This leads to both a reduced prompt signal and a measurable change in slope of the tail of a recorded pulse. In this contribution we discuss the characteristics of these events and the development of a filter that can identify the occurrence of this delayed charge recovery, allowing for the efficient rejection of passivated surface alpha events in analysis.

Discrimination of juvenile yellowfin (Thunnus albacares and bigeye (T. obesus Tunas using mitochondrial DNA control region and liver morphology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivane R Pedrosa-Gerasmio

Full Text Available Yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788 and bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839 are two of the most economically important tuna species in the world. However, identification of their juveniles, especially at sizes less than 40 cm, is very difficult, often leading to misidentification and miscalculation of their catch estimates. Here, we applied the mitochondrial DNA control region D-loop, a recently validated genetic marker used for identifying tuna species (Genus Thunnus, to discriminate juvenile tunas caught by purse seine and ringnet sets around fish aggregating devices (FADs off the Southern Iloilo Peninsula in Central Philippines. We checked individual identifications using the Neighbor-Joining Method and compared results with morphometric analyses and the liver phenotype. We tested 48 specimens ranging from 13 to 31 cm fork length. Morpho-meristic analyses suggested that 12 specimens (25% were bigeye tuna and 36 specimens (75% were yellowfin tuna. In contrast, the genetic and liver analyses both showed that 5 specimens (10% were bigeye tuna and 43 (90% yellowfin tuna. This suggests that misidentification can occur even with highly stringent morpho-meristic characters and that the mtDNA control region and liver phenotype are excellent markers to discriminate juveniles of yellowfin and bigeye tunas.

Assessing the potential of remote sensing to discriminate invasive ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The usefulness of remote sensing to discriminate Seriphium plumosum from grass using a field spectrometer data was investigated in this study. Analysis focused on wavelength regions that showed potential of discriminating S. plumosum from grass which were determined from global pair spectral comparison between S.

LLNL's Regional Model Calibration and Body-Wave Discrimination Research in the Former Soviet Union using Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNEs)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhattacharyya, J.; Rodgers, A.; Swenson, J.; Schultz, C.; Walter, W.; Mooney, W.; Clitheroe, G.

2000-01-01

Long-range seismic profiles from Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE) in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) provide a unique data set to investigate several important issues in regional Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) monitoring. The recording station spacing (∼15 km) allows for extremely dense sampling of the propagation from the source to ∼ 3300 km. This allows us to analyze the waveforms at local, near- and far-regional and teleseismic distances. These data are used to: (1) study the evolution of regional phases and phase amplitude ratios along the profile; (2) infer one-dimensional velocity structure along the profile; and (3) evaluate the spatial correlation of regional and teleseismic travel times and regional phase amplitude ratios. We analyzed waveform data from four PNE's (m b = 5.1-5.6) recorded along profile KRATON, which is an east-west trending profile located in northern Sibertil. Short-period regional discriminants, such as P/S amplitude ratios, will be essential for seismic monitoring of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) at small magnitudes (m b o and 10 o , respectively

Gender violence: transgender experiences with violence and discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardi, E L; Wilchins, R A; Priesing, D; Malouf, D

2001-01-01

There is a pervasive pattern of discrimination and prejudice against transgendered people within society. Both economic discrimination and experiencing violence could be the result of a larger social climate that severely sanctions people for not conforming to society's norms concerning gender; as such, both would be strongly associated with each other. Questionnaires were distributed to people either through events or through volunteers, and made available upon the World Wide Web. A sample of 402 cases was collected over the span of 12 months (April 1996-April 1997). We found that over half the people within this sample experienced some form of harassment or violence within their lifetime, with a quarter experiencing a violent incident. Further investigation found that experiencing economic discrimination because one is transgendered had the strongest association with experiencing a transgender related violent incident. Economic discrimination was related to transgendered people's experience with violence. Therefore, both hate crimes legislation and employment protections are needed for transgendered individuals.

Discrimination of Xihulongjing tea grade using an electronic tongue ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Five grades of Xihulongjing tea (grade: AAA, AA, A, B and C, from the same region and processed with the same processing method) were discriminated using -Astree II electronic tongue (e-tongue) coupled with pattern recognition methods including principal component analysis (PCA), canonical discriminant analysis ...

An evaluation of simulated Thematic Mapper data and Landsat MSS data for discriminating suburban and regional land use and land cover

Science.gov (United States)

Toll, D. L.

1984-01-01

An airborne multispectral scanner, operating in the same spectral channels as the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), was used in a region east of Denver, CO, for a simulation test performed in the framework of using TM to discriminate the level I and level II classes. It is noted that at the 30-m spatial resolution of the Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) the overall discrimination for such classes as commercial/industrial land, rangeland, irrigated sod, irrigated alfalfa, and irrigated pasture was superior to that of the Landsat Multispectral Scanner, primarily due to four added spectral bands. For residential and other spectrally heterogeneous classes, however, the higher resolution of TMS resulted in increased variability within the class and a larger spectral overlap.

Spatial discrimination and visual discrimination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

2013-01-01

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

Spike detection, characterization, and discrimination using feature analysis software written in LabVIEW.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, C M; Newlands, S D; Perachio, A A

2004-12-01

Rapid and accurate discrimination of single units from extracellular recordings is a fundamental process for the analysis and interpretation of electrophysiological recordings. We present an algorithm that performs detection, characterization, discrimination, and analysis of action potentials from extracellular recording sessions. The program was entirely written in LabVIEW (National Instruments), and requires no external hardware devices or a priori information about action potential shapes. Waveform events are detected by scanning the digital record for voltages that exceed a user-adjustable trigger. Detected events are characterized to determine nine different time and voltage levels for each event. Various algebraic combinations of these waveform features are used as axis choices for 2-D Cartesian plots of events. The user selects axis choices that generate distinct clusters. Multiple clusters may be defined as action potentials by manually generating boundaries of arbitrary shape. Events defined as action potentials are validated by visual inspection of overlain waveforms. Stimulus-response relationships may be identified by selecting any recorded channel for comparison to continuous and average cycle histograms of binned unit data. The algorithm includes novel aspects of feature analysis and acquisition, including higher acquisition rates for electrophysiological data compared to other channels. The program confirms that electrophysiological data may be discriminated with high-speed and efficiency using algebraic combinations of waveform features derived from high-speed digital records.

Discrimination and Acculturative Stress among First-Generation Dominicans

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Beverly Araujo; Panchanadeswaran, Subadra

2010-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between discriminatory experiences and acculturative stress levels among a sample of 283 Dominican immigrants. Findings from a linear regression analysis revealed that experiences of daily racial discrimination and major racist events were significant predictors of acculturative stress after controlling…

Synchronisation of palaeoenvironmental events in the North Atlantic region during the last termination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lowe, John J.; Rasmussen, Sune Olander; Björck, Svante

2008-01-01

The North Atlantic INTIMATE group of the INQUA Palaeoclimate Commission has previously recommended an Event Stratigraphy approach for the synchronisation of records of the Last Termination using the Greenland GRIP isotopic record as the regional stratotype and INTCAL98 for the calibration...

Evolution in Intensity and Frequency of Extreme Events of Precipitation in Northeast Region and Brazilian Amazon in XXI Century

Science.gov (United States)

Fonseca, P. M.; Veiga, J. A.; Correia, F. S.; Brito, A. L.

2013-05-01

The aim of this research was evaluate changes in frequency and intensity of extreme events of precipitation in Brazilian Amazon and Northeast Region, doubling CO2 concentration in agreement of IPCC A2 emissions scenarios (Nakicenovic et al., 2001). For this evaluation was used ETA model (Chou et al., 2011), forced with CCSM3 Global model data (Meehl, 2006) to run 4 experiments, only for January, February and March: 1980-1990, 2000-2010, 2040-2050 and 2090-2100. Using the first decade as reference (1980-1990), was evaluated changes occurred in following decades, with a methodology to classify extremes events adapted from Frich (2002) and Gao (2006). Higher was the class, more intense is the event. An increase of 25% was observed in total precipitation in Brazilian Amazon for the end of XXI century and 12% for extreme events type 1, 9% for events type 2 and 10% for type 3. By the other hand, a 17% decrease of precipitation in Brazilian Northeast was observed, and a pronounced decay of 24% and 15% in extreme events contribution type 1 and 2 to total amount of precipitation, respectively. The difference between total normal type events was positive in this three decades compared with reference decade 1980-1990, varying positively from 4 to 6 thousand events included in normality by decade, these events was decreased in your majority of Class 1 events, which presented a decay of at least 3.500 events by each decade. This suggests an intensification of extreme events, considering that the amount of precipitation by class increased, and the number of events by class decreased. To Northeast region, an increasing in 9% of contribution to events type 3 class was observed, as well as in the frequency of this type of events (about of 700 more events). Major decreasing in number of classes extreme events occur in 2000-2010, to classes 1 and 3, with 7,2 and 5,6%, and by the end of century in class 3, with 4,5%. For the three analyzed decades a total decrease of 8.400 events was

Exposure to Racial Discrimination and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Women with Type 2 Diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Julie; Tennen, Howard; Finan, Patrick; Feinn, Richard; Burg, Matthew M; Seawell, Asani; White, William B

2016-10-01

Diabetes is the only disorder in which women's risk for heart disease exceeds men's. Elevated blood pressure (BP) increases cardiovascular risk in people with type 2 diabetes. Racial discrimination and neuroticism are both associated with BP levels but have not been examined in concert. This study investigated self-reported racial discrimination, neuroticism and ambulatory BP in women with type 2 diabetes. Thirty-nine Black and 38 White women completed a race-neutral version of the Schedule of Racist Events; BP was evaluated using ambulatory monitoring devices. Actigraphy and diaries were used to document times of sleep and wakefulness. Racial discrimination interacted with neuroticism to predict systolic and diastolic BP both while awake and during sleep, after adjustment for covariates. For each, the influence of racist events was stronger at lower levels of neuroticism. Racial discrimination is associated with higher levels of 24-h BP in diabetic women who are low in neuroticism. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Discrimination and Anti-discrimination in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Tore Vincents

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

DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN TARIFF BILL-BASED THEORIES OF THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929 USING EVENT STUDY DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernard C. Beaudreau

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Jude Wanniski (1978 argued that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill was a key factor in the Stock Market Crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression. The specter of higher tariffs and lower foreign trade, he argued, depressed share prices, leading ultimately to the Stock Market Crash. Bernard Beaudreau (1996, 2005, on the other hand, made the reverse argument, namely that the specter of higher tariffs from November 1928 to October 1929 fueled the Stock Market Boom as investors anticipated higher revenues and profits from the anticipated increase in sales and revenues. The Stock Market Crash, he argued, came on the heels of the defeat of the Thomas Recommittal Plan which foretold of lower, not higher as Wanniski contended, tariffs on manufactures. Using Event Study data from January 14, 1929 to October 29, 1929, this paper attempts to discriminate between these two hypotheses. The results show that “good” tariff bill news as reported in the New York Times contributed to stock price appreciation, and vice-versa, supporting the latter theory.

Surface micromachined counter-meshing gears discrimination device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polosky, M.A.; Garcia, E.J.; Allen, J.J.

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the design, fabrication and testing of a surface micromachined Counter-Meshing Gears (CMG) discrimination device which functions as a mechanically coded lock, A 24 bit code is input to unlock the device. Once unlocked, the device provides a path for an energy or information signal to pass through the device. The device is designed to immediately lock up if any portion of the 24 bit code is incorrect. The motivation for the development of this device is based on occurrences referred to as High Consequence Events, A High Consequence Event is an event where an inadvertent operation of a system could result in the catastrophic loss of life, property, or damage to the environment

Influential factors on debris flow events and hillslope-channel connectivity in Alpine regions: case studies from two Alpine regions in Styria, Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Traper, Sandra; Pöppl, Ronald; Rascher, Eric; Sass, Oliver

2016-04-01

In recent times different types of natural disasters like debris flow events have attracted increasing attention worldwide, since they can cause great damage and loss of infrastructure or even lives is not unusual when it comes to such an event. The engagement with debris flows is especially important in mountainous areas like Austria, since Alpine regions have proved to be particularly prone to the often harmful consequences of such events because of increasing settlement of previously uninhabited regions. Due to those frequently damaging effects of debris flows, research on this kind of natural disaster often focuses on mitigation and recovery measures after an event and on how to restore the initial situation. However, a view on the situation of an area, where severe debris flows recently occurred and are well documented, before the actual event can aid in discovering important preparatory factors that contribute to initiating debris flows and hillslope-channel connectivity in the first place. Valuable insights into the functioning and preconditions of debris flows and their potential connectivity to the main channel can be gained. The study focuses on two geologically different areas in the Austrian Alps, which are both prone to debris flows and have experienced rather severe events recently. Based on data from debris flow events in two regions in Styria (Austria), the Kleinsölk and the Johnsbach valleys, the aim of the study is to identify factors which influence the development of debris flows and the potential of such debris flows to reach the main channel potentially clogging up the river (hillslope-channel connectivity). The degree of hillslope-channel coupling was verified in extensive TLS and ALS surveys, resulting in DEMs of different resolution and spatial extension. Those factors are obtained, analyzed and evaluated with DEM-based GIS- and statistical analyses. These include factors that are attributed to catchment topography, such as slope angle

Application of discriminative models for interactive query refinement in video retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Srivastava, Amit; Khanwalkar, Saurabh; Kumar, Anoop

2013-12-01

The ability to quickly search for large volumes of videos for specific actions or events can provide a dramatic new capability to intelligence agencies. Example-based queries from video are a form of content-based information retrieval (CBIR) where the objective is to retrieve clips from a video corpus, or stream, using a representative query sample to find more like this. Often, the accuracy of video retrieval is largely limited by the gap between the available video descriptors and the underlying query concept, and such exemplar queries return many irrelevant results with relevant ones. In this paper, we present an Interactive Query Refinement (IQR) system which acts as a powerful tool to leverage human feedback and allow intelligence analyst to iteratively refine search queries for improved precision in the retrieved results. In our approach to IQR, we leverage discriminative models that operate on high dimensional features derived from low-level video descriptors in an iterative framework. Our IQR model solicits relevance feedback on examples selected from the region of uncertainty and updates the discriminating boundary to produce a relevance ranked results list. We achieved 358% relative improvement in Mean Average Precision (MAP) over initial retrieval list at a rank cutoff of 100 over 4 iterations. We compare our discriminative IQR model approach to a naïve IQR and show our model-based approach yields 49% relative improvement over the no model naïve system.

Changes in perceived weight discrimination among Americans, 1995-1996 through 2004-2006.

Science.gov (United States)

Andreyeva, Tatiana; Puhl, Rebecca M; Brownell, Kelly D

2008-05-01

Little is known about the prevalence and patterns of weight discrimination in the United States. This study examined the trends in perceived weight/height discrimination among a nationally representative sample of adults aged 35-74 years, comparing experiences of discrimination based on race, age, and gender. Data were from the two waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), a survey of community-based English-speaking adults initially in 1995-1996 and a follow-up in 2004- 2006. Reported experiences of weight/height discrimination included a variety of settings in major lifetime events and interpersonal relationships. The prevalence of weight/height discrimination increased from 7% in 1995-1996 to 12% in 2004-2006, affecting all population groups but the elderly. This growth is unlikely to be explained by changes in obesity rates. Weight/height discrimination is highly prevalent in American society and increasing at disturbing rates. Its prevalence is relatively close to reported rates of race and age discrimination, but virtually no legal or social sanctions against weight discrimination exist.

Boundary-Layer Characteristics of Persistent Regional Haze Events and Heavy Haze Days in Eastern China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Huaqing

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzed the surface conditions and boundary-layer climate of regional haze events and heavy haze in southern Jiangsu Province in China. There are 5 types with the surface conditions which are equalized pressure (EQP, the advancing edge of a cold front (ACF, the base of high pressure (BOH, the backside of high pressure (BAH, the inverted trough of low pressure (INT, and saddle pressure (SAP with the haze days. At that time, 4 types are divided with the regional haze events and each of which has a different boundary-layer structure. During heavy haze, the surface mainly experiences EQP, ACF, BOH, BAH, and INT which also have different boundary-layer structures.

Rapid discrimination of visual scene content in the human brain

Science.gov (United States)

Anokhin, Andrey P.; Golosheykin, Simon; Sirevaag, Erik; Kristjansson, Sean; Rohrbaugh, John W.; Heath, Andrew C.

2007-01-01

The rapid evaluation of complex visual environments is critical for an organism's adaptation and survival. Previous studies have shown that emotionally significant visual scenes, both pleasant and unpleasant, elicit a larger late positive wave in the event-related brain potential (ERP) than emotionally neutral pictures. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether neuroelectric responses elicited by complex pictures discriminate between specific, biologically relevant contents of the visual scene and to determine how early in the picture processing this discrimination occurs. Subjects (n=264) viewed 55 color slides differing in both scene content and emotional significance. No categorical judgments or responses were required. Consistent with previous studies, we found that emotionally arousing pictures, regardless of their content, produce a larger late positive wave than neutral pictures. However, when pictures were further categorized by content, anterior ERP components in a time window between 200−600 ms following stimulus onset showed a high selectivity for pictures with erotic content compared to other pictures regardless of their emotional valence (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant) or emotional arousal. The divergence of ERPs elicited by erotic and non-erotic contents started at 185 ms post-stimulus in the fronto-central midline regions, with a later onset in parietal regions. This rapid, selective, and content-specific processing of erotic materials and its dissociation from other pictures (including emotionally positive pictures) suggests the existence of a specialized neural network for prioritized processing of a distinct category of biologically relevant stimuli with high adaptive and evolutionary significance. PMID:16712815

Seismicity and seismotectonics of the Western Lake Ontario Region -relocation of the seismic events phase III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohajer, A.A.

1995-12-01

Earthquake hazard analysis in Canada relies mainly on recorded earthquake data. The ability to record earthquakes of a given magnitude has varied considerably over time as has the accuracy of location determinations. Recomputation of earthquake locations has been suggested as a possible means of improving the existing data base for better definition of seismic sources. In this study, the locations of more than 50 small to moderate magnitude earthquakes (M≤5), in the western Lake Ontario region, were examined. Available seismograph records in the Record Centre of the National Archives of Canada were examined for events that occurred prior to 1978. The events recorded after this date showed increasing accuracy in their location determinations due to initiation and improvements of the Eastern Canada Telemetry Network (ECTN). Data compiled from the study are based on the relocated and/or selected events with the minimum travel time residuals at the Canadian and American stations. Except for a few scattered events in the south-central part of the Lake Ontario region, microearthquakes (M<3.5) cluster along or at the intersection of prominent aeromagnetic and gravity anomalies, within the Toronto-Hamilton Seismic Zone. This is indicative of certain seismotectonic relationships in this region. The depth distribution or the better located events show that a range of 5 to 20 km is dominant and, therefore, they are not near-surface stress relief phenomena. However, details of the structural manifestation of inferred seismogenic features need further ground truthing, backed by long term seismic monitoring. (author) 66 refs., 3 tabs., 6 figs

[Discrimination at the workplace among immigrants in Italy].

Science.gov (United States)

Salvatore, M A; Baglio, G; Cacciani, Laura; Spagnolo, A; Rosano, A

2012-01-01

Discrimination at the workplace can be considered a risk factor for immigrants' health. In this study we compared the occurrence of episodes of arrogance or discrimination perceived at the workplace between documented immigrants coming from countries with high migration pressure and Italians, and evaluated the role of selected risk factors among immigrants. Using data from the 2007 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for socio-demographic and occupational variables were estimated among a nationally representative sample of 61,214 employed persons aged 15 years or more. The occurrence of perceived arrogance or discrimination was higher among immigrant compared to Italian males for all geographical areas of origin considered. Adjusted ORs were 4.6 (95% CI: 3.6-5.8) for Africans, 3.4 (95% CI: 2.5-4.6) for Asians, 2.1 (95% CI :1.6-2.8) for Eastern Europeans, and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.0-3.7) for Latin Americans. Among male immigrants a higher occurrence of arrogance or discrimination was found for construction and other industrial workers and for those residing in central-southern regions of Italy. Among female workers only Latin Americans and Africans showed a higher occurrence of perceived arrogance or discrimination compared to Italians: adjusted ORs were respectively 3.9 (95% CI: 2.6-5.7) and 2.6 (95% CI:1.5-4.5). Female immigrants with a medium-to-high level of education or a highly skilled job, and those residing in the central-southern regions of ltaly perceived the highest occurrence of arrogance or discrimination. The study highlighted the need for policies to protect the wellbeing of immigrants that seem to be particularly exposed to patterns of discrimination at the workplace.

The events associated with the great tsunami of 26 December, 2004 sea level variation and impact on coastal region of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shetye, S.R.

-Type text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Satish R. Shetye National Institute of Oceanography, Goa The events associated with the Great Tsunami of 26 December 2004 Sea Level Variation and Impact on Coastal Region of India Tsunamis are shallow... in the region. The Great Tsunami, though an event with a low probability of occurrence, was a high-impact event. One cannot but compare this event with what happened in 1755 along the east coast of the North Atlantic, another low-probability location...

Can Regional Climate Models be used in the assessment of vulnerability and risk caused by extreme events?

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Ana

2015-04-01

Extreme meteorological events played an important role in catastrophic occurrences observed in the past over densely populated areas in Brazil. This motived the proposal of an integrated system for analysis and assessment of vulnerability and risk caused by extreme events in urban areas that are particularly affected by complex topography. That requires a multi-scale approach, which is centered on a regional modeling system, consisting of a regional (spectral) climate model coupled to a land-surface scheme. This regional modeling system employs a boundary forcing method based on scale-selective bias correction and assimilation of satellite-based precipitation estimates. Scale-selective bias correction is a method similar to the spectral nudging technique for dynamical downscaling that allows internal modes to develop in agreement with the large-scale features, while the precipitation assimilation procedure improves the modeled deep-convection and drives the land-surface scheme variables. Here, the scale-selective bias correction acts only on the rotational part of the wind field, letting the precipitation assimilation procedure to correct moisture convergence, in order to reconstruct South American current climate within the South American Hydroclimate Reconstruction Project. The hydroclimate reconstruction outputs might eventually produce improved initial conditions for high-resolution numerical integrations in metropolitan regions, generating more reliable short-term precipitation predictions, and providing accurate hidrometeorological variables to higher resolution geomorphological models. Better representation of deep-convection from intermediate scales is relevant when the resolution of the regional modeling system is refined by any method to meet the scale of geomorphological dynamic models of stability and mass movement, assisting in the assessment of risk areas and estimation of terrain stability over complex topography. The reconstruction of past extreme

Using Dynamic Fourier Analysis to Discriminate Between Seismic Signals from Natural Earthquakes and Mining Explosions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria C. Mariani

2017-08-01

Full Text Available A sequence of intraplate earthquakes occurred in Arizona at the same location where miningexplosions were carried out in previous years. The explosions and some of the earthquakes generatedvery similar seismic signals. In this study Dynamic Fourier Analysis is used for discriminating signalsoriginating from natural earthquakes and mining explosions. Frequency analysis of seismogramsrecorded at regional distances shows that compared with the mining explosions the earthquake signalshave larger amplitudes in the frequency interval ~ 6 to 8 Hz and significantly smaller amplitudes inthe frequency interval ~ 2 to 4 Hz. This type of analysis permits identifying characteristics in theseismograms frequency yielding to detect potentially risky seismic events.

Transition-Region Ultraviolet Explosive Events in IRIS Si IV: A Statistical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bartz, Allison

2018-01-01

Explosive events (EEs) in the solar transition region are characterized by broad, non-Gaussian line profiles with wings at Doppler velocities exceeding the speed of sound. We present a statistical analysis of 23 IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) sit-and-stare observations, observed between April 2014 and March 2017. Using the IRIS Si IV 1394 Å and 1403 Å spectral windows and the 1400Å Slit Jaw images we have identified 581 EEs. We found that most EEs last less than 20 min. and have a spatial scale on the slit less than 10”, agreeing with measurements in previous work. We observed most EEs in active regions, regardless of date of observation, but selection bias of IRIS observations cannot be ruled out. We also present preliminary findings of optical depth effects from our statistical study.

Time compression of soil erosion by the effect of largest daily event. A regional analysis of USLE database.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Hidalgo, J. C.; Batalla, R.; Cerda, A.; de Luis, M.

2009-04-01

When Thornes and Brunsden wrote in 1977 "How often one hears the researcher (and no less the undergraduate) complain that after weeks of observation "nothing happened" only to learn that, the day after his departure, a flood caused unprecedent erosion and channel changes!" (Thornes and Brunsden, 1977, p. 57), they focussed on two different problems in geomorphological research: the effects of extreme events and the temporal compression of geomorphological processes. The time compression is one of the main characteristic of erosion processes. It means that an important amount of the total soil eroded is produced in very short temporal intervals, i.e. few events mostly related to extreme events. From magnitude-frequency analysis we know that few events, not necessarily extreme by magnitude, produce high amount of geomorphological work. Last but not least, extreme isolated events are a classical issue in geomorphology by their specific effects, and they are receiving permanent attention, increased at present because of scenarios of global change. Notwithstanding, the time compression of geomorphological processes could be focused not only on the analysis of extreme events and the traditional magnitude-frequency approach, but on new complementary approach based on the effects of largest events. The classical approach define extreme event as a rare event (identified by its magnitude and quantified by some deviation from central value), while we define largest events by the rank, whatever their magnitude. In a previous research on time compression of soil erosion, using USLE soil erosion database (Gonzalez-Hidalgo et al., EGU 2007), we described a relationship between the total amount of daily erosive events recorded by plot and the percentage contribution to total soil erosion of n-largest aggregated daily events. Now we offer a further refined analysis comparing different agricultural regions in USA. To do that we have analyzed data from 594 erosion plots from USLE

Differential discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

1981-01-01

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

Psychological distress and stressful life events in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Wager, Julia; Brehmer, Hannah; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Zernikow, Boris

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: There is little knowledge regarding the association between psychological factors and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in children. Specifically, it is not known which factors precipitate CRPS and which result from the ongoing painful disease. OBJECTIVES: To examine symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as the experience of stressful life events in children with CRPS compared with children with chronic primary headaches and functional abdominal pain. METHODS: A retrospective chart study examined children with CRPS (n=37) who received intensive inpatient pain treatment between 2004 and 2010. They were compared with two control groups (chronic primary headaches and functional abdominal pain; each n=37), who also received intensive inpatient pain treatment. Control groups were matched with the CRPS group with regard to admission date, age and sex. Groups were compared on symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as stressful life events. RESULTS: Children with CRPS reported lower anxiety and depression scores compared with children with abdominal pain. A higher number of stressful life events before and after the onset of the pain condition was observed for children with CRPS. CONCLUSIONS: Children with CRPS are not particularly prone to symptoms of anxiety or depression. Importantly, children with CRPS experienced more stressful life events than children with chronic headaches or abdominal pain. Prospective long-term studies are needed to further explore the potential role of stressful life events in the etiology of CRPS. PMID:26035287

Structural Discrimination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsen, Mira Skadegård

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

2-Dimension pulse shape discriminator for phoswich detector based on FPGA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji Jianfeng; Liu Congzhan; Zhang Zhi

2011-01-01

It improves the data acquire system for the pulse signal based on digital front-rear pulse shape discrimination system. It adds pulse width information into the pulse's data package. Base on this, we divide the pulse event process into two process, on line coast process and offline accurate process: the online process sets a big threshold, just save the data of the event below this threshold; the offline process uses the acquired data, get the pulse amplitude and pulse width, and then according the spectrum's real shape, set the accurate threshold. this design resolves the problem that the detector's decay time change with the temperature; at the same time, it can correct the system's distortion when the input signal at small amplitude, improves the discrimination system's accuracy. (authors)

Quantifying discrimination of Framingham risk functions with different survival C statistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Pencina, Michael J; D'Agostino, Ralph B; Song, Linye

2012-07-10

Cardiovascular risk prediction functions offer an important diagnostic tool for clinicians and patients themselves. They are usually constructed with the use of parametric or semi-parametric survival regression models. It is essential to be able to evaluate the performance of these models, preferably with summaries that offer natural and intuitive interpretations. The concept of discrimination, popular in the logistic regression context, has been extended to survival analysis. However, the extension is not unique. In this paper, we define discrimination in survival analysis as the model's ability to separate those with longer event-free survival from those with shorter event-free survival within some time horizon of interest. This definition remains consistent with that used in logistic regression, in the sense that it assesses how well the model-based predictions match the observed data. Practical and conceptual examples and numerical simulations are employed to examine four C statistics proposed in the literature to evaluate the performance of survival models. We observe that they differ in the numerical values and aspects of discrimination that they capture. We conclude that the index proposed by Harrell is the most appropriate to capture discrimination described by the above definition. We suggest researchers report which C statistic they are using, provide a rationale for their selection, and be aware that comparing different indices across studies may not be meaningful. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Face-selective regions differ in their ability to classify facial expressions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hui; Japee, Shruti; Nolan, Rachel; Chu, Carlton; Liu, Ning; Ungerleider, Leslie G

2016-04-15

Recognition of facial expressions is crucial for effective social interactions. Yet, the extent to which the various face-selective regions in the human brain classify different facial expressions remains unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and support vector machine pattern classification analysis to determine how well face-selective brain regions are able to decode different categories of facial expression. Subjects participated in a slow event-related fMRI experiment in which they were shown 32 face pictures, portraying four different expressions: neutral, fearful, angry, and happy and belonging to eight different identities. Our results showed that only the amygdala and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) were able to accurately discriminate between these expressions, albeit in different ways: the amygdala discriminated fearful faces from non-fearful faces, whereas STS discriminated neutral from emotional (fearful, angry and happy) faces. In contrast to these findings on the classification of emotional expression, only the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior inferior temporal cortex (aIT) could discriminate among the various facial identities. Further, the amygdala and STS were better than FFA and aIT at classifying expression, while FFA and aIT were better than the amygdala and STS at classifying identity. Taken together, our findings indicate that the decoding of facial emotion and facial identity occurs in different neural substrates: the amygdala and STS for the former and FFA and aIT for the latter. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The role of perceived discrimination on active aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez-Ballesteros, Rocio; Olmos, Ricardo; Santacreu, Marta; Bustillos, Antonio; Molina, Maria Angeles

2017-07-01

Among older adults, perceived age discrimination is highly associated with unhealthy outcomes and dissatisfaction. Active aging is a multidimensional concept described by a set of characteristics, particularly health, positive mood and control; most importantly, active aging is currently at the core of public policies. The aim of the present study was to test to what extent perceived discrimination influences active aging. Methods A total of 2005 older adults in three representative samples from regions of Germany, Mexico and Spain participated; they were tested on active aging and perceived discrimination. First, active aging was defined as high reported health, life satisfaction and self-perception of aging. Second, authors introduced the assumption that, in the total sample, structural equation modelling would confirm the hypothesis of a direct negative link between perceived age discrimination and active aging. Finally, multiple group comparison performed through structural equation modelling also provided support for the negative association between perceived discrimination and active aging proposed. In spite of the differences found among the three countries in both active aging variables and age discrimination perception, multiple group comparison indicates that regardless of the culture, perceived discrimination is a negative predictor of active aging. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source Regions of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field and Variability in Heavy-Ion Elemental Composition in Gradual Solar Energetic Particle Events

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Yuan-Kuen; Tylka, Allan J.; Ng, Chee K.; Wang, Yi-Ming; Dietrich, William F.

2013-01-01

Gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events are those in which ions are accelerated to their observed energies by interactions with a shock driven by a fast coronal mass-ejection (CME). Previous studies have shown that much of the observed event-to-event variability can be understood in terms of shock speed and evolution in the shock-normal angle. But an equally important factor, particularly for the elemental composition, is the origin of the suprathermal seed particles upon which the shock acts. To tackle this issue, we (1) use observed solar-wind speed, magnetograms, and the PFSS model to map the Sun-L1 interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) line back to its source region on the Sun at the time of the SEP observations; and (2) then look for correlation between SEP composition (as measured by Wind and ACE at approx. 2-30 MeV/nucleon) and characteristics of the identified IMF-source regions. The study is based on 24 SEP events, identified as a statistically-significant increase in approx. 20 MeV protons and occurring in 1998 and 2003-2006, when the rate of newly-emergent solar magnetic flux and CMEs was lower than in solar-maximum years and the field-line tracing is therefore more likely to be successful. We find that the gradual SEP Fe/O is correlated with the field strength at the IMF-source, with the largest enhancements occurring when the footpoint field is strong, due to the nearby presence of an active region. In these cases, other elemental ratios show a strong charge-to-mass (q/M) ordering, at least on average, similar to that found in impulsive events. These results lead us to suggest that magnetic reconnection in footpoint regions near active regions bias the heavy-ion composition of suprathermal seed ions by processes qualitatively similar to those that produce larger heavy-ion enhancements in impulsive SEP events. To address potential technical concerns about our analysis, we also discuss efforts to exclude impulsive SEP events from our event sample.

Assessing traumatic event exposure: general issues and preliminary findings for the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, L A; Corcoran, C; Turner, K; Yuan, N; Green, B L

1998-07-01

This article reviews the psychometric properties of the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire (SLESQ), a recently developed trauma history screening measure, and discusses the complexities involved in assessing trauma exposure. There are relatively few general measures of exposure to a variety of types of traumatic events, and most of those that exist have not been subjected to rigorous psychometric evaluation. The SLESQ showed good test-retest reliability, with a median kappa of .73, adequate convergent validity (with a lengthier interview) with a median kappa of .64, and good discrimination between Criterion A and non-Criterion A events. The discussion addresses some of the challenges of assessing traumatic event exposure along the dimensions of defining traumatic events, assessment methodologies, reporting consistency, and incident validation.

Development of phonon-mediated cryogenic particle detectors with electron and nuclear recoil discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Sae Woo

1999-10-01

Observations have shown that galaxies, including our own, are surrounded by halos of ``dark matter''. One possibility is that this may be an undiscovered form of matter, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). This thesis describes the development of silicon based cryogenic particle detectors designed to directly detect interactions with these WIMPs. These detectors are part of a new class of detectors which are able to reject background events by simultaneously measuring energy deposited into phonons versus electron hole pairs. By using the phonon sensors with the ionization sensors to compare the partitioning of energy between phonons and ionizations we can discriminate between electron recoil events (background radiation) and nuclear recoil events (dark matter events). These detectors with built-in background rejection are a major advance in background rejection over previous searches. Much of this thesis will describe work in scaling the detectors from / g prototype devices to a fully functional prototype 100g dark matter detector. In particular, many sensors were fabricated and tested to understand the behavior of our phonon sensors, Quasipartice trapping assisted Electrothermal feedback Transition edge sensors (QETs). The QET sensors utilize aluminum quasiparticle traps attached to tungsten superconducting transition edge sensors patterned on a silicon substrate. The tungsten lines are voltage biased and self-regulate in the transition region. Phonons from particle interactions within the silicon propogate to the surface where they are absorbed by the aluminum generating quasiparticles in the aluminum. The quasiparticles diffuse into the tungsten and couple energy into the tungsten electron system. Consequently, the tungsten increases in resistance and causes a current pulse which is measured with a high bandwidth SQUID system. With this advanced sensor technology, we were able to demonstrate detectors with xy position sensitivity with electron and

Fast pulse discriminator for photon counting at high photon densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benoit, R.; Pedrini, A.

1977-03-01

A fast tunnel diode discriminator for photon counting up to 200MHz count frequency is described. The tunnel diode is operated on its apparent I.V. characteristics displayed when the diode is driven into its oscillating region. The pulse shaper-discriminator is completely D.C. coupled in order to avoid base-line shift at high pulse rates

Examining Workplace Discrimination in a Discrimination-Free Environment

OpenAIRE

Braxton, Shawn Lamont

2010-01-01

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

Hippocampal-cortical contributions to strategic exploration during perceptual discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Voss, Joel L; Cohen, Neal J

2017-06-01

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

Discrimination, Other Psychosocial Stressors, and Self-Reported Sleep Duration and Difficulties

Science.gov (United States)

Slopen, Natalie; Williams, David R.

2014-01-01

Objectives: To advance understanding of the relationship between discrimination and sleep duration and difficulties, with consideration of multiple dimensions of discrimination, and attention to concurrent stressors; and to examine the contribution of discrimination and other stressors to racial/ ethnic differences in these outcomes. Design: Cross-sectional probability sample. Setting: Chicago, IL. Participants: There were 2,983 black, Hispanic, and white adults. Measurements and Results: Outcomes included self-reported sleep duration and difficulties. Discrimination, including racial and nonracial everyday and major experiences of discrimination, workplace harassment and incivilities, and other stressors were assessed via questionnaire. In models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, greater exposure to racial (β = -0.14)) and nonracial (β = -0.08) everyday discrimination, major experiences of discrimination attributed to race/ethnicity (β = -0.17), and workplace harassment and incivilities (β = -0.14) were associated with shorter sleep (P stressors (i.e., acute events, childhood adversity, and financial, community, employment, and relationship stressors). Racial (β = 0.04) and non-racial (β = 0.05) everyday discrimination and racial (β = 0.04) and nonracial (β = 0.04) major experiences of discrimination, and workplace harassment and incivilities (β = 0.04) were also associated with more (log) sleep difficulties, and associations between racial and nonracial everyday discrimination and sleep difficulties remained after adjustment for other stressors (P 0.05). Conclusions: Discrimination was associated with shorter sleep and more sleep difficulties, independent of socioeconomic status and other stressors, and may account for some of the racial/ethnic differences in sleep. Citation: Slopen N; Williams DR. Discrimination, other psychosocial stressors, and self-reported sleep duration and difficulties. SLEEP 2014;37(1):147-156. PMID:24381373

Analysis of convection-permitting simulations for capturing heavy rainfall events over Myanmar Region

Science.gov (United States)

Acierto, R. A. E.; Kawasaki, A.

2017-12-01

Perennial flooding due to heavy rainfall events causes strong impacts on the society and economy. With increasing pressures of rapid development and potential for climate change impacts, Myanmar experiences a rapid increase in disaster risk. Heavy rainfall hazard assessment is key on quantifying such disaster risk in both current and future conditions. Downscaling using Regional Climate Models (RCM) such as Weather Research and Forecast model have been used extensively for assessing such heavy rainfall events. However, usage of convective parameterizations can introduce large errors in simulating rainfall. Convective-permitting simulations have been used to deal with this problem by increasing the resolution of RCMs to 4km. This study focuses on the heavy rainfall events during the six-year (2010-2015) wet period season from May to September in Myanmar. The investigation primarily utilizes rain gauge observation for comparing downscaled heavy rainfall events in 4km resolution using ERA-Interim as boundary conditions using 12km-4km one-way nesting method. The study aims to provide basis for production of high-resolution climate projections over Myanmar in order to contribute for flood hazard and risk assessment.

Tagging b quark events in ALEPH with neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Proriol, J.; Jousset, J.; Guicheney, C.; Falvard, A.; Henrard, P.; Pallin, D.; Perret, P.; Brandl, B.

1991-01-01

Comparison of different methods to tag b quark events are presented: multilayered perceptron (MLP), Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ), discriminant analysis, combination of any two of the above methods. The sample events come from the ALEPH Monte Carlo and data, from the 1990 ALEPH runs. (authors) 12 refs., 16 figs., 5 tabs

The INTIMATE event stratigraphy of the last glacial period

Science.gov (United States)

Olander Rasmussen, Sune; Svensson, Anders

2015-04-01

The North Atlantic INTIMATE (INtegration of Ice-core, MArine and TErrestrial records) group has previously recommended an Event Stratigraphy approach for the synchronisation of records of the Last Termination using the Greenland ice core records as the regional stratotypes. A key element of these protocols has been the formal definition of numbered Greenland Stadials (GS) and Greenland Interstadials (GI) within the past glacial period as the Greenland expressions of the characteristic Dansgaard-Oeschger events that represent cold and warm phases of the North Atlantic region, respectively. Using a recent synchronization of the NGRIP, GRIP, and GISP2 ice cores that allows the parallel analysis of all three records on a common time scale, we here present an extension of the GS/GI stratigraphic template to the entire glacial period. In addition to the well-known sequence of Dansgaard-Oeschger events that were first defined and numbered in the ice core records more than two decades ago, a number of short-lived climatic oscillations have been identified in the three synchronized records. Some of these events have been observed in other studies, but we here propose a consistent scheme for discriminating and naming all the significant climatic events of the last glacial period that are represented in the Greenland ice cores. In addition to presenting the updated event stratigraphy, we make a series of recommendations on how to refer to these periods in a way that promotes unambiguous comparison and correlation between different proxy records, providing a more secure basis for investigating the dynamics and fundamental causes of these climatic perturbations. The work presented is a part of a newly published paper in an INTIMATE special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews: Rasmussen et al., 'A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event

Impact of emissions from the Los Angeles port region on San Diego air quality during regional transport events.

Science.gov (United States)

Ault, Andrew P; Moore, Meagan J; Furutani, Hiroshi; Prather, Kimberly A

2009-05-15

Oceangoing ships emit an estimated 1.2-1.6 million metric tons (Tg) of PM10 per year and represent a significant source of air pollution to coastal communities. As shown herein, ship and other emissions near the Los Angeles and Long Beach Port region strongly influence air pollution levels in the San Diego area. During time periods with regional transport, atmospheric aerosol measurements in La Jolla, California show an increase in 0.5-1 microm sized single particles with unique signatures including soot, metals (i.e., vanadium, iron, and nickel), sulfate, and nitrate. These particles are attributed to primary emissions from residual oil sourcessuch as ships and refineries, as well as traffic in the port region, and secondary processing during transport. During regional transport events, particulate matter concentrations were 2-4 times higher than typical average concentrations from local sources, indicating the health, environmental, and climate impacts from these emission sources must be taken into consideration in the San Diego region. Unless significant regulations are imposed on shipping-related activities, these emission sources will become even more important to California air quality as cars and truck emissions undergo further regulations and residual oil sources such as shipping continue to expand.

Discriminability of Single and Multichannel Intracortical Microstimulation within Somatosensory Cortex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cynthia Kay Overstreet

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The addition of tactile and proprioceptive feedback to neuroprosthetic limbs is expected to significantly improve the control of these devices. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS of somatosensory cortex is a promising method of delivering this sensory feedback. To date, the main focus of somatosensory ICMS studies has been to deliver discriminable signals, corresponding to varying intensity, to a single location in cortex. However, multiple independent and simultaneous streams of sensory information will need to be encoded by ICMS to provide functionally relevant feedback for a neuroprosthetic limb (e.g. encoding contact events and pressure on multiple digits.In this study, we evaluated the ability of an awake, behaving non-human primate (Macaca mulatta to discriminate ICMS stimuli delivered on multiple electrodes spaced within somatosensory cortex. We delivered serial stimulation on single electrodes to evaluate the discriminability of sensations corresponding to ICMS of distinct cortical locations. Additionally, we delivered trains of multichannel stimulation, derived from a tactile sensor, synchronously across multiple electrodes. Our results indicate that discrimination of multiple ICMS stimuli is a challenging task, but that discriminable sensory percepts can be elicited by both single and multichannel ICMS on electrodes spaced within somatosensory cortex.

Changes in the Order of Family Life Events in 20th-Century Europe: A Cross-Regional Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reto Burgin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the evolution of the sequencing of family life events in Europe during the second half of the 20th century using individual data from the European Social Survey and from the Generation and Gender Program. Considering the four events ‘leaving the parental home‘, ‘first cohabiting union‘, ‘first marriage‘, and ‘first parenthood‘, we hypothesize a transition from a traditional standard event order characterized by a high degree of synchronization between the first three events towards a new standard whose features are a high degree of de-synchronization between first cohabitation and first marriage and a reversal of the traditional order between first marriage and first parenthood. We also hypothesize cross-regional differences in the timing and in the shape of the transition from one standard to another. Applying specifically developed tools to visualize and analyze event sequences, we show important regional variation in the evolution of the sequencing of family life events. Hardly any change can be observed in Southern Europe, where the sequencing behavior of family events has remained highly standardized and rooted in the traditional standard. In Eastern Europe where family event sequences have become less standardized and where a particular sequence characterized by the reversal of the traditional order between leaving home and family formation has been observed, the hypothesized transition is still in its very beginning. In Western Europe the transition is clearly on its way, but no re-standardization towards a new standard can be observed as for now. As expected, the transition is most advanced in Northern Europe, where evidence for a certain re-standardization process in the sequencing of family life events has been found.

Emotion Discrimination using spatially Compact Regions of Interest extracted from Imaging EEG Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Ivan Padilla-Buritica

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Lately, research on computational models of emotion had been getting much attention due to their potential for understanding the mechanisms of emotions and their promising broad range of applications that potentially bridge the gap between human and machine interactions. We propose a new method for emotion classification that relies on features extracted from those active brain areas that are most likely related to emotions. To this end, we carry out the selection of spatially compact regions of interest that are computed using the brain neural activity reconstructed from electroencephalography data. Throughout this study, we consider three representative feature extraction methods widely applied to emotion detection tasks, including Power spectral density, Wavelet, and Hjorth parameters. Further feature selection is carried out using principal component analysis. For validation purpose, these features are used to feed a support vector machine classifier that is trained under the leave-one-out cross-validation strategy. Obtained results on real affective data show that incorporation of the proposed training method in combination with the enhanced spatial resolution provided by the source estimation allows improving the performed accuracy of discrimination in most of the considered emotions, namely: dominance, valence, and linking.

International and Regional Institutional Dialogues for Human Rights for LGBT persons: The quest for recognition, anti-discrimination, and marriage in Southeast Asia

OpenAIRE

Holzhacker, Ronald

2016-01-01

There is a rich interplay between civil society organizations and institutions involved in human rights norm diffusion and the ‘ricochet’ of ideas at the regional level across Southeast Asia. There is a broad discussion occurring about human rights for LGBT persons and SOGI rights (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) including recognition, non-discrimination in employment, education, and housing, and partnership recognition and same-sex marriage. We focus on four countries, Thailand, Viet...

Nonlinear Methodologies for Identifying Seismic Event and Nuclear Explosion Using Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Naive Bayes Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Longjun Dong

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The discrimination of seismic event and nuclear explosion is a complex and nonlinear system. The nonlinear methodologies including Random Forests (RF, Support Vector Machines (SVM, and Naïve Bayes Classifier (NBC were applied to discriminant seismic events. Twenty earthquakes and twenty-seven explosions with nine ratios of the energies contained within predetermined “velocity windows” and calculated distance are used in discriminators. Based on the one out cross-validation, ROC curve, calculated accuracy of training and test samples, and discriminating performances of RF, SVM, and NBC were discussed and compared. The result of RF method clearly shows the best predictive power with a maximum area of 0.975 under the ROC among RF, SVM, and NBC. The discriminant accuracies of RF, SVM, and NBC for test samples are 92.86%, 85.71%, and 92.86%, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the presented RF model can not only identify seismic event automatically with high accuracy, but also can sort the discriminant indicators according to calculated values of weights.

Conceptions and tendencies of age discrimination and attitudes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fredrik Nils Christian Snellman

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This study aims to access and explore tendencies in the conceptualization of age discrimination and the perceived attitudes towards older people in regions of Finland and Sweden. The analysis draws on GERDA survey data (GErontological Regional DAtabase, a repeated cross-sectional study in which data was collected in 2005 and 2010. The results indicate that the conceptions of age discrimination are changing in a positive direction, which is contrary to results shown in the Eurobarometer. On the basis of balance coefficients we show that conceived attitudes towards older people are changing as well, except for individuals in some sub-groups. We discuss the role of political rhetoric in relation to ageing awareness, the (nonindividualization of society and the negotiation of age relations as tentative interpretations that strongly challenge the observed empirical tendencies.

Ethnic Discrimination against Mapuche Students in Urban High Schools in the Araucanía Region, Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Becerra, Sandra; Merino, María Eugenia; Mellor, David

2015-01-01

Ethnic or racial discrimination towards children and adolescents at schools is of concern in many contexts around the world because it is associated with diverse psychosocial, behavioural, emotional, and identity problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the types of ethnic discrimination experienced by indigenous Mapuche adolescents in…

Neural correlates of face gender discrimination learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Junzhu; Tan, Qingleng; Fang, Fang

2013-04-01

Using combined psychophysics and event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the effect of perceptual learning on face gender discrimination and probe the neural correlates of the learning effect. Human subjects were trained to perform a gender discrimination task with male or female faces. Before and after training, they were tested with the trained faces and other faces with the same and opposite genders. ERPs responding to these faces were recorded. Psychophysical results showed that training significantly improved subjects' discrimination performance and the improvement was specific to the trained gender, as well as to the trained identities. The training effect indicates that learning occurs at two levels-the category level (gender) and the exemplar level (identity). ERP analyses showed that the gender and identity learning was associated with the N170 latency reduction at the left occipital-temporal area and the N170 amplitude reduction at the right occipital-temporal area, respectively. These findings provide evidence for the facilitation model and the sharpening model on neuronal plasticity from visual experience, suggesting a faster processing speed and a sparser representation of face induced by perceptual learning.

The January 2001, El Salvador event: a multi-data analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Vallee, M.; Bouchon, M.; Schwartz, S. Y.

2001-12-01

On January 13, 2001, a large normal event (Mw=7.6) occured 100 kilometers away from the Salvadorian coast (Central America) with a centroid depth of about 50km. The size of this event is surprising according to the classical idea that such events have to be much weaker than thrust events in subduction zones. We analysed this earthquake with different types of data: because teleseismic waves are the only data which offer a good azimuthal coverage, we first built a kinematic source model with P and SH waves provided by the IRIS-GEOSCOPE networks. The ambiguity between the 30o plane (plunging toward Pacific Ocean) and the 60o degree plane (plunging toward Central America) leaded us to do a parallel analysis of the two possible planes. We used a simple point-source modelling in order to define the main characteristics of the event and then used an extended source to retrieve the kinematic features of the rupture. For the 2 possible planes, this analysis reveals a downdip and northwest rupture propagation but the difference of fit remains subtle even when using the extended source. In a second part we confronted our models for the two planes with other seismological data, which are (1) regional data, (2) surface wave data through an Empirical Green Function given by a similar but much weaker earthquake which occured in July 1996 and lastly (3) nearfield data provided by Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) and Centro de Investigationes Geotecnicas (CIG). Regional data do not allow to discriminate the 2 planes neither but surface waves and especially near field data confirm that the fault plane is the steepest one plunging toward Central America. Moreover, the slight directivity toward North is confirmed by surface waves.

Attributing anthropogenic impact on regional heat wave events using CAM5 model large ensemble simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, S. H.; Chen, C. T.

2017-12-01

Extreme heat waves have serious impacts on society. It was argued that the anthropogenic forcing might substantially increase the risk of extreme heat wave events (e.g. over western Europe in 2003 and over Russia in 2010). However, the regional dependence of such anthropogenic impact and the sensitivity of the attributed risk to the definition of heat wave still require further studies. In our research framework, the change in the frequency and severity of a heat wave event under current conditions is calculated and compared with the probability and magnitude of the event if the effects of particular external forcing, such as due to human influence, had been absent. In our research, we use the CAM5 large ensemble simulation from the CLIVAR C20C+ Detection and Attribution project (http://portal.nersc.gov/c20c/main.html, Folland et al. 2014) to detect the heat wave events occurred in both historical all forcing run and natural forcing only run. The heat wave events are identified by partial duration series method (Huth et al., 2000). We test the sensitivity of heat wave thresholds from daily maximum temperature (Tmax) in warm season (from May to September) between 1959 and 2013. We consider the anthropogenic effect on the later period (2000-2013) when the warming due to human impact is more evident. Using Taiwan and surrounding area as our preliminary research target, We found the anthropogenic effect will increase the heat wave day per year from 30 days to 75 days and make the mean starting(ending) day for heat waves events about 15-30 days earlier(later). Using the Fraction of Attribution Risk analysis to estimate the risk of frequency of heat wave day, our results show the anthropogenic forcing very likely increase the heat wave days over Taiwan by more than 50%. Further regional differences and sensitivity of the attributed risk to the definition of heat wave will be compared and discussed.

Determination of authenticity, regional origin, and vintage of Slovenian wines using a combination of IRMS and SNIF-NMR analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogrinc, N; Kosir, I J; Kocjancic, M; Kidric, J

2001-03-01

The authenticity and geographical origin of wines produced in Slovenia were investigated by a combination of IRMS and SNIF-NMR methods. A total of 102 grape samples of selected wines were carefully collected in three different wine-growing regions of Slovenia in 1996, 1997, and 1998. The stable isotope data were evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The isotopic ratios to discriminate between coastal and continental regions are the deuterium/hydrogen isotopic ratio of the methylene site in the ethanol molecule (D/H)(II) and delta(13)C values; including also delta(18)O values in the PCA and LDA made possible separation between the two continental regions Drava and Sava. It was found that delta(18)O values are modified by the meteorological events during grape ripening and harvest. The usefulness of isotopic parameters for detecting adulteration or watering and to assess the geographical origin of wines is improved only when they are used concurrently.

Phonological experience modulates voice discrimination: Evidence from functional brain networks analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xueping; Wang, Xiangpeng; Gu, Yan; Luo, Pei; Yin, Shouhang; Wang, Lijun; Fu, Chao; Qiao, Lei; Du, Yi; Chen, Antao

2017-10-01

Numerous behavioral studies have found a modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination. However, the neural substrates underpinning this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here we manipulated language familiarity to test the hypothesis that phonological experience affects voice discrimination via mediating the engagement of multiple perceptual and cognitive resources. The results showed that during voice discrimination, the activation of several prefrontal regions was modulated by language familiarity. More importantly, the same effect was observed concerning the functional connectivity from the fronto-parietal network to the voice-identity network (VIN), and from the default mode network to the VIN. Our findings indicate that phonological experience could bias the recruitment of cognitive control and information retrieval/comparison processes during voice discrimination. Therefore, the study unravels the neural substrates subserving the modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination, and provides new insights into studying voice discrimination from the perspective of network interactions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A Tool for Empirical Forecasting of Major Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and Solar Particle Events from a Proxy of Active-Region Free Magnetic Energy

Science.gov (United States)

Barghouty, A. F.; Falconer, D. A.; Adams, J. H., Jr.

2010-01-01

This presentation describes a new forecasting tool developed for and is currently being tested by NASA s Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) at JSC, which is responsible for the monitoring and forecasting of radiation exposure levels of astronauts. The new software tool is designed for the empirical forecasting of M and X-class flares, coronal mass ejections, as well as solar energetic particle events. Its algorithm is based on an empirical relationship between the various types of events rates and a proxy of the active region s free magnetic energy, determined from a data set of approx.40,000 active-region magnetograms from approx.1,300 active regions observed by SOHO/MDI that have known histories of flare, coronal mass ejection, and solar energetic particle event production. The new tool automatically extracts each strong-field magnetic areas from an MDI full-disk magnetogram, identifies each as an NOAA active region, and measures a proxy of the active region s free magnetic energy from the extracted magnetogram. For each active region, the empirical relationship is then used to convert the free magnetic energy proxy into an expected event rate. The expected event rate in turn can be readily converted into the probability that the active region will produce such an event in a given forward time window. Descriptions of the datasets, algorithm, and software in addition to sample applications and a validation test are presented. Further development and transition of the new tool in anticipation of SDO/HMI is briefly discussed.

A COMPARISON OF ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCE RATIOS IN SEP EVENTS IN FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND REGIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahler, S. W.; Tylka, A. J.; Reames, D. V.

2009-01-01

The solar energetic (E > 1 MeV nucleon -1 ) particles (SEPs) observed in gradual events at 1 AU are assumed to be accelerated by coronal/interplanetary shocks from ambient thermal or suprathermal seed particles. If so, then the elemental abundances of SEPs produced in different solar wind (SW) stream types (transient, fast, and slow) might be systematically distinguished from each other. We look for these differences in SEP energy spectra and in elemental abundance ratios (including Mg/Ne and Fe/C, which compare low/high first ionization potential elements), in a large number of SEP time intervals over the past solar cycle. The SW regions are characterized by the three-component stream classification of Richardson et al. Our survey shows no significant compositional or energy spectral differences in the 5-10 MeV nucleon -1 range for SEP events of different SW stream types. This result extends the earlier finding that SEP events are observed frequently in fast SW streams, although their higher Alfven and SW flow speeds should constrain SEP production by coronal mass ejection-driven shocks in those regions. We discuss the implications of our results for shock seed populations and cross-field propagation.

Pulse duration discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosakovskij, L.F.

1980-01-01

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

Antigen-antibody biorecognition events as discriminated by noise analysis of force spectroscopy curves.

Science.gov (United States)

Bizzarri, Anna Rita; Cannistraro, Salvatore

2014-08-22

Atomic force spectroscopy is able to extract kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of biomolecular complexes provided that the registered unbinding force curves could be reliably attributed to the rupture of the specific complex interactions. To this aim, a commonly used strategy is based on the analysis of the stretching features of polymeric linkers which are suitably introduced in the biomolecule-substrate immobilization procedure. Alternatively, we present a method to select force curves corresponding to specific biorecognition events, which relies on a careful analysis of the force fluctuations of the biomolecule-functionalized cantilever tip during its approach to the partner molecules immobilized on a substrate. In the low frequency region, a characteristic 1/f (α) noise with α equal to one (flickering noise) is found to replace white noise in the cantilever fluctuation power spectrum when, and only when, a specific biorecognition process between the partners occurs. The method, which has been validated on a well-characterized antigen-antibody complex, represents a fast, yet reliable alternative to the use of linkers which may involve additional surface chemistry and reproducibility concerns.

The time-walk of analog constant fraction discriminators using very fast scintillator detectors with linear and non-linear energy response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Regis, J.-M., E-mail: regis@ikp.uni-koeln.de [Institut fuer Kernphysik der Universitaet zu Koeln, Zuelpicher Str. 77, 50937 Koeln (Germany); Rudigier, M.; Jolie, J.; Blazhev, A.; Fransen, C.; Pascovici, G.; Warr, N. [Institut fuer Kernphysik der Universitaet zu Koeln, Zuelpicher Str. 77, 50937 Koeln (Germany)

2012-08-21

The electronic {gamma}-{gamma} fast timing technique allows for direct nuclear lifetime determination down to the few picoseconds region by measuring the time difference between two coincident {gamma}-ray transitions. Using high resolution ultra-fast LaBr{sub 3}(Ce) scintillator detectors in combination with the recently developed mirror symmetric centroid difference method, nuclear lifetimes are measured with a time resolving power of around 5 ps. The essence of the method is to calibrate the energy dependent position (centroid) of the prompt response function of the setup which is obtained for simultaneously occurring events. This time-walk of the prompt response function induced by the analog constant fraction discriminator has been determined by systematic measurements using different photomultiplier tubes and timing adjustments of the constant fraction discriminator. We propose a universal calibration function which describes the time-walk or the combined {gamma}-{gamma} time-walk characteristics, respectively, for either a linear or a non-linear amplitude versus energy dependency of the scintillator detector output pulses.

Time-of-flight discrimination between gamma-rays and neutrons by using artificial neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akkoyun, S.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Time-of-flight (tof) is an obvious method for separation between gamma and neutron particles. ► tof distributions are obtained by neural networks. ► Neural network method is consistent with the experimental results. ► Neural networks can classify different events for discrimination. - Abstract: In gamma-ray spectroscopy, a number of neutrons are emitted from the nuclei together with the gamma-rays. These neutrons influence gamma-ray spectra. An obvious method for discrimination between neutrons and gamma-rays is based on the time-of-flight (tof) technique. In this work, the tof distributions of gamma-rays and neutrons were obtained both experimentally and by using artificial neural networks (ANNs). It was shown that, ANN can correctly classify gamma-ray and neutron events. Also, for highly nonlinear detector response for tof, we have constructed consistent empirical physical formulas (EPFs) by appropriate ANNs. These ANN–EPFs can be used to derive further physical functions which could be relevant to discrimination between gamma-rays and neutrons

Optimized filtering of regional and teleseismic seismograms: results of maximizing SNR measurements from the wavelet transform and filter banks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leach, R.R.; Schultz, C.; Dowla, F.

1997-07-15

Development of a worldwide network to monitor seismic activity requires deployment of seismic sensors in areas which have not been well studied or may have from available recordings. Development and testing of detection and discrimination algorithms requires a robust representative set of calibrated seismic events for a given region. Utilizing events with poor signal-to-noise (SNR) can add significant numbers to usable data sets, but these events must first be adequately filtered. Source and path effects can make this a difficult task as filtering demands are highly varied as a function of distance, event magnitude, bearing, depth etc. For a given region, conventional methods of filter selection can be quite subjective and may require intensive analysis of many events. In addition, filter parameters are often overly generalized or contain complicated switching. We have developed a method to provide an optimized filter for any regional or teleseismically recorded event. Recorded seismic signals contain arrival energy which is localized in frequency and time. Localized temporal signals whose frequency content is different from the frequency content of the pre-arrival record are identified using rms power measurements. The method is based on the decomposition of a time series into a set of time series signals or scales. Each scale represents a time-frequency band with a constant Q. SNR is calculated for a pre-event noise window and for a window estimated to contain the arrival. Scales with high SNR are used to indicate the band pass limits for the optimized filter.The results offer a significant improvement in SNR particularly for low SNR events. Our method provides a straightforward, optimized filter which can be immediately applied to unknown regions as knowledge of the geophysical characteristics is not required. The filtered signals can be used to map the seismic frequency response of a region and may provide improvements in travel-time picking, bearing estimation

Perception, experience, and response to genetic discrimination in Huntington's disease: the Australian results of The International RESPOND-HD study.

Science.gov (United States)

Goh, Anita M Y; Chiu, Edmond; Yastrubetskaya, Olga; Erwin, Cheryl; Williams, Janet K; Juhl, Andrew R; Paulsen, Jane S

2013-02-01

This study examines elements of genetic discrimination among an at-risk, clinically undiagnosed Huntington's disease (HD) population. Sixty at-risk individuals, either positive or negative for the HD genetic mutation, completed a survey regarding their experiences of genetic discrimination, adverse and unfair treatment, and knowledge about existing laws and policies surrounding genetic discrimination. Sixty eight percent of participants reported feeling "Great benefit" from knowing their genetic test results. Reported benefits of knowledge included planning for the future, making decisions, and many individuals found meaning in active participation in the HD community and in advocating for themselves or families at risk for HD. Many individuals found personal meaning and a sense of community from knowledge of this information and from the ability to participate in research. Despite these positive feelings toward gene testing, results demonstrated that 33% of participants perceived experiences of genetic discrimination, which occurred repeatedly and caused great self-reported distress. Significantly, more gene-positive respondents reported experiencing incidents of genetic discrimination, compared to gene-negative respondents. At least 58 separate incidents of discrimination were reported, the number of incidents ranged from 1 to 10, with 45% of individuals (9/20 respondents) indicating more than one event. Of the most significant events of discrimination, 58% were related to insurance, 21% to employment, 16% to transactions of daily life, and 5% to relationships. Results contribute toward validation of empirical data regarding genetic discrimination.

ANALYSIS OF EVENT TOURISM IN RUSSIA, ITS FUNCTIONS, WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF EVENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikhail Yur'evich Grushin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article considers one of the important directions of development of the national economy in the area of tourist services – development of event tourism in the Russian Federation. Today the market of event management in Russia is in the process of formation, therefore its impact on the socio-economic development of regions and Russia as a whole is minimal, and the analysis of the influence is not performed. This problem comes to the fore in the regions of Russia, specializing in the creation of event-direction tourist-recreational cluster. The article provides an analysis of the existing market of event management and event tourism functions. Providing the ways to improve the efficiency of event management and recommendations for the organizer of events in the regions. The article shows the specific role of event tourism in the national tourism and provides direction for the development of organizational and methodical recommendations on its formation in the regions of Russia and the creation of an effective management system at the regional level. The purpose of this article is to analyze the emerging in Russia event tourism market and its specifics. On the basis of these studies are considered folding patterns of the new market and the assessment of its impact on the modern national tourism industry. Methodology. To complete this article are used comparative and economic and statistical analysis methods. Conclusions/significance. The practical importance of this article is in the elimination of existing in the national tourism industry contradictions: on the one hand, in the Russian Federation is annually held a large amount events activities, including world-class in all regions say about tourist trips to the event, but the event tourism does not exist yet. In all regions, there is an internal and inbound tourism, but it has nothing to do with the event tourism. The article has a practical conclusions demonstrate the need to adapt the

On transient events in the upper atmosphere generated away of thunderstorm regions

Science.gov (United States)

Morozenko, V.; Garipov, G.; Khrenov, B.; Klimov, P.; Panasyuk, M.; Sharakin, S.; Zotov, M.

2011-12-01

Experimental data on transient events in UV and Red-IR ranges obtained in the MSU missions "Unversitetsky-Tatiana" (wavelengths 300-400 nm) and "Unversitetsky-Tatiana-2" (wavelengths 300-400 nm and 600-800 nm), published by Garipov et al, in 2010 at COSPAR session http://www.cospar2010.org, at TEPA conference http://www.aragats.am/Conferences/tepa2010 and in 2011 by Sadovnichy et al, Solar System Research, 45, #1, 3-29 (2011); Vedenkin et al, JETP, v. 140, issue 3(9), 1-11 (2011) demonstrated existence of transients at large distances (up to thousands km) away of cloud thunderstorm regions. Those "remote" transients are short (1-5 msec) and are less luminous than the transients above thunderstorm regions. The ratio of Red-IR to UV photon numbers in those transients indicates high altitude of their origin (~70 km). Important observation facts are also: 1. a change of the exponent in transient distribution on luminosity Q ("-1" for photon numbers Q=1020 -1023 to "-2" for Q>1023), 2. a change of global distribution of transient with their luminosity (transients with Q>1023 are concentrated in equatorial range above continents, while transients with low luminosity are distributed more uniformly), 3. a phenomenon of transient sequences in one satellite orbit which is close to geomagnetic meridian. In the present paper phenomenological features of transients are explained in assumption that the observed transients have to be divided in two classes: 1. transients related to local, lower in the atmosphere, lightning at distance not more than hundreds km from satellite detector field of view in the atmosphere and 2. transients generated by far away lightning. Local transients are luminous and presumably are events called "transient luminous events" (TLE). In distribution on luminosity those events have some threshold Q~1023 and their differential luminosity distribution is approximated by power law exponent "-2". Remote transients have to be considered separately. Their

Frequent gene conversion events between the X and Y homologous chromosomal regions in primates

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Hirai Hirohisa

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Mammalian sex-chromosomes originated from a pair of autosomes. A step-wise cessation of recombination is necessary for the proper maintenance of sex-determination and, consequently, generates a four strata structure on the X chromosome. Each stratum shows a specific per-site nucleotide sequence difference (p-distance between the X and Y chromosomes, depending on the time of recombination arrest. Stratum 4 covers the distal half of the human X chromosome short arm and the p-distance of the stratum is ~10%, on average. However, a 100-kb region, which includes KALX and VCX, in the middle of stratum 4 shows a significantly lower p-distance (1-5%, suggesting frequent sequence exchanges or gene conversions between the X and Y chromosomes in humans. To examine the evolutionary mechanism for this low p-distance region, sequences of a corresponding region including KALX/Y from seven species of non-human primates were analyzed. Results Phylogenetic analysis of this low p-distance region in humans and non-human primate species revealed that gene conversion like events have taken place at least ten times after the divergence of New World monkeys and Catarrhini (i.e., Old World monkeys and hominoids. A KALY-converted KALX allele in white-handed gibbons also suggests a possible recent gene conversion between the X and Y chromosomes. In these primate sequences, the proximal boundary of this low p-distance region is located in a LINE element shared between the X and Y chromosomes, suggesting the involvement of this element in frequent gene conversions. Together with a palindrome on the Y chromosome, a segmental palindrome structure on the X chromosome at the distal boundary near VCX, in humans and chimpanzees, may mediate frequent sequence exchanges between X and Y chromosomes. Conclusion Gene conversion events between the X and Y homologous regions have been suggested, mainly in humans. Here, we found frequent gene conversions in the

Association between perceived racial discrimination and hypertension: findings from the ELSA-Brasil study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendes, Patrícia Miranda; Nobre, Aline Araújo; Griep, Rosane Härter; Guimarães, Joanna Miguez Nery; Juvanhol, Leidjaira Lopes; Barreto, Sandhi Maria; Pereira, Alexandre; Chor, Dóra

2018-03-01

"Pardos" and blacks in Brazil and blacks in the USA are at greater risk of developing arterial hypertension than whites, and the causes of this inequality are still little understood. Psychosocial and contextual factors, including racial discrimination, are indicated as conditions associated with this inequality. The aim of this study was to identify the association between perceived racial discrimination and hypertension. The study evaluated 14,012 workers from the ELSA-Brazil baseline population. Perceived discrimination was measured by the Lifetime Major Events Scale, adapted to Portuguese. Classification by race/color followed the categories proposed by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Hypertension was defined by standard criteria. The association between the compound variable - race/racial discrimination - and hypertension was estimated by Poisson regression with robust variance and stratified by the categories of body mass index (BMI) and sex. Choosing white women as the reference group, in the BMI 25kg/m2 and men in any BMI category, no effect of racial discrimination was identified. Despite the differences in point estimates of prevalence of hypertension between "pardo" women who reported and those who did not report discrimination, our results are insufficient to assert that an association exists between racial discrimination and hypertension.

The prevalence of discrimination across racial groups in contemporary America: Results from a nationally representative sample of adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian B Boutwell

Full Text Available A large body of social science research is devoted to understanding the causes and correlates of discrimination. Comparatively less effort has been aimed at providing a general prevalence estimate of discrimination using a nationally representative sample. The current study is intended to offer such an estimate using a large sample of American respondents (N = 14,793 while also exploring perceptions regarding why respondents felt they were discriminated against. The results provide a broad estimate of self-reported discrimination experiences-an event that was only reported by about one-quarter of all sample members-across racial and ethnic categories.

The prevalence of discrimination across racial groups in contemporary America: Results from a nationally representative sample of adults

Science.gov (United States)

Nedelec, Joseph L.; Winegard, Bo; Shackelford, Todd; Beaver, Kevin M.; Vaughn, Michael; Barnes, J. C.; Wright, John P.

2017-01-01

A large body of social science research is devoted to understanding the causes and correlates of discrimination. Comparatively less effort has been aimed at providing a general prevalence estimate of discrimination using a nationally representative sample. The current study is intended to offer such an estimate using a large sample of American respondents (N = 14,793) while also exploring perceptions regarding why respondents felt they were discriminated against. The results provide a broad estimate of self-reported discrimination experiences—an event that was only reported by about one-quarter of all sample members—across racial and ethnic categories. PMID:28837680

Violence and discrimination against nursing students in a Colombian public university

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Leonor Moreno-Cubillos

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Objective. To measure the frequency of acts of gender discrimination and violence against nursing students in a Colombian public university. Methodology. A cross-sectional descriptive study with a representative sample of 81 students in the nursing program was conducted during the first half of 2011. The information was taken through a self-filled survey, inquiring about the history of violence and discrimination during college life, taken place on campus and at practice sites. Results. Seventy percent of the students were subjected to one of 17 types of violent or discriminatory acts investigated during their university life in the university facilities or in practice sites. The most frequent events reported by students were: abuse of authority (43%, taunts, gestures and obscene compliments (32%, psychological aggression (27%; verbal aggression (19%; and discrimination due to physical appearance (12%. Conclusion. A high proportion of nursing students participating in the study were subjected to acts of violence and discrimination. It is necessary for the university to generate welfare strategies to change attitudes related to these actions.

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in $e^{+}e^{-}$ four- jet topology using neural networks and discriminant analysis

CERN Document Server

Mjahed, M

2003-01-01

We present an attempt to separate between Higgs boson events (e/sup + /e/sup -/ to ZH to qqbb) and other physics processes in the 4-jet channel (e/sup +/e/sup -/ to Z/ gamma , W/sup +/W, ZZ to 4jets), using the discriminant analysis and neural networks methods. Events were produced at LEP2 energies, using the Lund Monte Carlo generator and the Aleph package. The most discriminant variables as the reconstructed jet mass, the jet properties (b-tag, rapidity weighted moments) and other variables are used. (8 refs).

Role of amygdala central nucleus in feature negative discriminations

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, Peter C.

2012-01-01

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

Intracranial auditory detection and discrimination potentials as substrates of echoic memory in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Liasis, A; Towell, A; Boyd, S

1999-03-01

In children, intracranial responses to auditory detection and discrimination processes have not been reported. We, therefore, recorded intracranial event-related potentials (ERPs) to both standard and deviant tones and/or syllables in 4 children undergoing pre-surgical evaluation for epilepsy. ERPs to detection (mean latency = 63 ms) and discrimination (mean latency = 334 ms) were highly localized to areas surrounding the Sylvian fissure (SF). These potentials reflect activation of different neuronal populations and are suggested to contribute to the scalp recorded auditory N1 and mismatch negativity (MMN).

Four-deep charge-time and pulse-width scaling discriminator for delay line MWPC's

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, K.L.; Kirsten, F.A.; Grigorian, A.; Guiragossian, Z.G.T.

1976-01-01

A discriminator has been developed for digitizing both intercepted total charge and location of electromagnetic shower and particle trajectories in multi-wire proportional chambers read by delay lines. Determination of shower trajectory is aided by video signal integration followed by centroid-locating discrimination. Calibrated run-down of the signal integrating capacitor gives the charge information above a given threshold level. The discriminator is designed to handle up to four shower-induced video signals per event by incorporating steering circuits within the module. Each video signal is examined for time over an adjustable threshold. Video pulses with separation of less than 20 nsec are treated as a single pulse. Counter-logic circuits indicate the number of video signals digitized. These signal processing circuits provide a first level of data sifting which otherwise must be carried out with additional discriminator channels and added complexity in data recognition

Optical timing receiver for the NASA Spaceborne Ranging System. Part II: high precision event-timing digitizer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leskovar, Branko; Turko, Bojan

1978-08-01

Position-resolution capabilities of the NASA Spaceborne Laser Ranging System are essentially determined by the timeresolution capabilities of its optical timing receiver. The optical timing receiver consists of a fast photoelectric device; (e.g., photomultiplier or an avalanche photodiode detector), a timing discriminator, a high-precision event-timing digitizer, and a signal-processing system. The time-resolution capabilities of the receiver are determined by the photoelectron time spread of the photoelectric device, the time walk and resolution characteristics of the timing discriminator, and the resolution of the event-timing digitizer. It is thus necessary to evaluate available fast photoelectronic devices with respect to the time-resolution capabilities, and to develop a very low time walk timing discriminator and a high-resolution event-timing digitizer to be used in the high-resolution spaceborne laser ranging system receiver. This part of the report describes the development of a high precision event-timing digitizer. The event-timing digitizer is basically a combination of a very accurate high resolution real time digital clock and an interval timer. The timing digitizer is a high resolution multiple stop clock, counting the time up to 131 days in 19.5 ps increments.

Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

KAUST Repository

Kamiran, Faisal

2012-11-18

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

Perceived Discrimination in LGBTIQ Discourse: A Typology of Verbal Discrimination

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Sol Rojas Lizana

2014-08-01

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

Projections of Heat Waves Events in the Intra-Americas Region Using Multimodel Ensemble

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Moises Angeles-Malaspina

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Significant accelerated warming of the Sea Surface Temperature of 0.15°C per decade (1982–2012 was recently detected, which motivated the research for the present consequences and future projections on the heat index and heat waves in the intra-Americas region. Present records every six hours are retrieved from NCEP reanalysis (1948–2015 to calculate heat waves changes. Heat index intensification has been detected in the region since 1998 and driven by surface pressure changes, sinking air enhancement, and warm/weaker cold advection. This regional warmer atmosphere leads to heat waves intensification with changes in both frequency and maximum amplitude distribution. Future projections using a multimodel ensemble mean for five global circulation models were used to project heat waves in the future under two scenarios: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Massive heat waves events were projected at the end of the 21st century, particularly in the RCP8.5 scenario. Consequently, the regional climate change in the current time and in the future will require special attention to mitigate the more intense and frequent heat waves impacts on human health, countries’ economies, and energy demands in the IAR.

Application of the discriminant analysis method to the recognition of jets and the nature of partons in the e+e- hadrons reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mjahed, M.

1987-06-01

In e + e - annihilation process, the jets are produced by the fragmentation of various partons: the six flavours of quarks (u, d, s, c and the hypothetic top quark) and from the gluon. They form, according to the processus of production (e + e - →, qantiq, qantiqg, qantiqgg, qantiqqantiq) 2, 3, 4... jet events. Those jets are characterized by cinematical variables: sphericity, thrust, aplanarity, transverse momentum, charge, the fastest particle or the direction of jets. The identification of the variety of events or jets, by chosen variables taken one by one is not generally sufficient. The discriminant analysis method we used allows correlation of the greatest set of variables and the finding of the axis or the discriminant function, by which the classes of events or jets are discriminated. With the application of the method to the e + e - → hadrons reactions we can: - identify quark top events - determine the number of jets in u, d, s, c or b events - distinguish between quark jets and gluon jets -recognize the flavours of quark jets. The analysis is done at high energy (LEP) and based on a Monte-Carlo simulation with the Lund code, and for the first two points a simulation with constraint coming from the apparatus of detector ALEPH. The discriminant functions give an excellent separation of the different processes and can be used for real data (LEP...) The method can be used to other reactions: pantip, ep [fr

Applying linear discriminant analysis to predict groundwater redox conditions conducive to denitrification

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, S. R.; Close, M. E.; Abraham, P.

2018-01-01

Diffuse nitrate losses from agricultural land pollute groundwater resources worldwide, but can be attenuated under reducing subsurface conditions. In New Zealand, the ability to predict where groundwater denitrification occurs is important for understanding the linkage between land use and discharges of nitrate-bearing groundwater to streams. This study assesses the application of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for predicting groundwater redox status for Southland, a major dairy farming region in New Zealand. Data cases were developed by assigning a redox status to samples derived from a regional groundwater quality database. Pre-existing regional-scale geospatial databases were used as training variables for the discriminant functions. The predictive accuracy of the discriminant functions was slightly improved by optimising the thresholds between sample depth classes. The models predict 23% of the region as being reducing at shallow depths (water table, and low-permeability clastic sediments. The coastal plains are an area of widespread groundwater discharge, and the soil and hydrology characteristics require the land to be artificially drained to render the land suitable for farming. For the improvement of water quality in coastal areas, it is therefore important that land and water management efforts focus on understanding hydrological bypassing that may occur via artificial drainage systems.

Pulse-width discriminators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

1978-01-01

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

Extreme sea-level events in coastal regions

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Unnikrishnan, A.S.

that the outcome of the project has been a code that is capable of predicting correct trends more often (15 out of 20) than the other ‘black box’ codes in operation at various agencies. U. N. SINHA CSIR-Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer... of the extreme climate events. Their past trends, future projections and vulnerabi- lity and adaptation to such events are discussed in the report. The report was based on the efforts of both the working groups of the IPCC, WG I, which deals with the science...

Assessing the Potential of Remote Sensing to Discriminate Invasive ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bambo

regions that showed potential of discriminating S. plumosum from grass which were determined from global ... grass species are needed, since they explain spectral properties of plants. 1. Introduction ..... 27, 29–37. Snyman, H., 2012a. Habitat ...

The effects of reasons given for ineligibility on perceived gender discrimination and feelings of injustice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kappen, D M; Branscombe, N R

2001-06-01

We examine whether the reason given for a negative outcome influences the likelihood of making gender discrimination attributions. Men and women were given one of four reasons for their ineligibility to attend an event: an explicit gender reason, a reason based on an attribute correlated with gender, that same gender-related reason with explanatory information attached, or they were given no reason. Providing participants with a reason based on a gender-related attribute deflected them from making attributions to gender discrimination, indicating that discrimination attributions can easily be averted. Adding explanatory information to the gender-related reason decreased feelings of injustice, illegitimacy and anger while increasing acceptance of the outcome.

Discrimination of Earthquakes and Explosions using Multi-fractal Singularity Spectrums Properties

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Lyubushin, A. A.; Kaláb, Zdeněk; Lednická, Markéta; Haggag, H. M.

2013-01-01

Roč. 17, č. 3 (2013), s. 975-983 ISSN 1383-4649 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : multi- fractal parameters * singularity spectrum * seismic event discrimination Subject RIV: DC - Siesmology, Volcanology, Earth Structure Impact factor: 1.386, year: 2013 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10950-013-9366-3.pdf

Fast neutron spectrometer with pulse shape discrimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbitsky, S.S.

1978-01-01

A fast neutron spectrometer with a stilbene single crystal designed to operate at high pulsed count rate has been described. Making use of identification and rejection of events, accompanied by pile-up, allowed to increase permissible count rates by an order of magnitude. The results of energy dependence of signal amplitude and shape relative anisotropy in stilbene in the range 4-10 and 2-8 MeV respectively have been presented. Taking into account anisotropy of the detector-scintillation properties allowed to improve particle discrimination. (Auth.)

Discrimination between smiling faces: Human observers vs. automated face analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Líbano, Mario; Calvo, Manuel G; Fernández-Martín, Andrés; Recio, Guillermo

2018-05-11

This study investigated (a) how prototypical happy faces (with happy eyes and a smile) can be discriminated from blended expressions with a smile but non-happy eyes, depending on type and intensity of the eye expression; and (b) how smile discrimination differs for human perceivers versus automated face analysis, depending on affective valence and morphological facial features. Human observers categorized faces as happy or non-happy, or rated their valence. Automated analysis (FACET software) computed seven expressions (including joy/happiness) and 20 facial action units (AUs). Physical properties (low-level image statistics and visual saliency) of the face stimuli were controlled. Results revealed, first, that some blended expressions (especially, with angry eyes) had lower discrimination thresholds (i.e., they were identified as "non-happy" at lower non-happy eye intensities) than others (especially, with neutral eyes). Second, discrimination sensitivity was better for human perceivers than for automated FACET analysis. As an additional finding, affective valence predicted human discrimination performance, whereas morphological AUs predicted FACET discrimination. FACET can be a valid tool for categorizing prototypical expressions, but is currently more limited than human observers for discrimination of blended expressions. Configural processing facilitates detection of in/congruence(s) across regions, and thus detection of non-genuine smiling faces (due to non-happy eyes). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Resulting from Torture and Other Traumatic Events among Syrian Kurdish Refugees in Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Hawkar; Hassan, Chiya Q

2017-01-01

Political violence is known to cause psychological distress. There is a large body of empirical studies drawing correlations between war trauma, torture, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there are few studies on the effects of war-related trauma among Syrian refugees after events following the 'Arab Spring' uprisings between 2010 and 2012. This study examines the association of PTSD symptoms with torture and other traumatic events among Syrian Kurdish refugees living in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The experiences and PTSD symptoms among 91 Syrian Kurdish refugees in the Arbat camp in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were assessed using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, sections I, IV, and V. Results showed that the estimated levels of PTSD symptoms were high: between 35 and 38%. There were no significant gender differences in the occurrence of PTSD symptoms. However, men reported more general traumatic experiences than women. There were significant positive correlations between PTSD symptoms with traumatic events and torture ( r = 0.500, r = 0.366, respectively). Examining the mental health impact of torture and other traumatic events among refugees has possible implications for organizations managing rehabilitation programs for individuals who have been exposed to traumatic events.

Exposure to Discrimination and Heart Rate Variability Reactivity to Acute Stress among Women with Diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Julie; Lampert, Rachel; Tennen, Howard; Feinn, Richard

2015-08-01

Exposure to racial discrimination has been linked to physiological reactivity. This study investigated self-reported exposure to racial discrimination and parasympathetic [high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV)] and sympathetic (norepinephrine and cortisol) activity at baseline and then again after acute laboratory stress. Lifetime exposure to racial discrimination was measured with the Schedule of Racist Events scale. Thirty-two women (16 Black and 16 White) with type 2 diabetes performed a public speaking stressor. Beat-to-beat intervals were recorded on electrocardiograph recorders, and HF-HRV was calculated using spectral analysis and natural log transformed. Norepinephrine and cortisol were measured in blood. Higher discrimination predicted lower stressor HF-HRV, even after controlling for baseline HF-HRV. When race, age, A1c and baseline systolic blood pressure were also controlled, racial discrimination remained a significant independent predictor of stressor HF-HRV. There was no association between lifetime discrimination and sympathetic markers. In conclusion, preliminary data suggest that among women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), exposure to racial discrimination is adversely associated with parasympathetic, but not sympathetic, reactivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Particle identification via pulse-shape discrimination with a charge-integrating ADC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heltsley, J.H.; Brandon, L.; Galonsky, A.; Heilbronn, L.; Remington, B.A.; Langer, S.; Van der Molen, A.; Yurkon, J.; Michigan State Univ., East Lansing; Kasagi, J.

1988-01-01

A charge-integrating ADC has been used to sample the intensity in two different time regions of a pulse and thus to sense the shape of the pulse. This idea has been applied to produce neutron/γ-ray discrimination from pulses in a liquid scintillation detector. Optimization of available parameters yields good pulse-shape discrimination for pulses greater than those produced by 100 keV electrons. The method uses only general purpose electronics. (orig.)

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

Science.gov (United States)

Stypinska, Justyna; Turek, Konrad

2017-03-01

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

Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2013-01-01

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

Face Spoof Attack Recognition Using Discriminative Image Patches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahid Akhtar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Face recognition systems are now being used in many applications such as border crossings, banks, and mobile payments. The wide scale deployment of facial recognition systems has attracted intensive attention to the reliability of face biometrics against spoof attacks, where a photo, a video, or a 3D mask of a genuine user’s face can be used to gain illegitimate access to facilities or services. Though several face antispoofing or liveness detection methods (which determine at the time of capture whether a face is live or spoof have been proposed, the issue is still unsolved due to difficulty in finding discriminative and computationally inexpensive features and methods for spoof attacks. In addition, existing techniques use whole face image or complete video for liveness detection. However, often certain face regions (video frames are redundant or correspond to the clutter in the image (video, thus leading generally to low performances. Therefore, we propose seven novel methods to find discriminative image patches, which we define as regions that are salient, instrumental, and class-specific. Four well-known classifiers, namely, support vector machine (SVM, Naive-Bayes, Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA, and Ensemble, are then used to distinguish between genuine and spoof faces using a voting based scheme. Experimental analysis on two publicly available databases (Idiap REPLAY-ATTACK and CASIA-FASD shows promising results compared to existing works.

Perceived Intensity and Discrimination Ability for Lingual Electrotactile Stimulation Depends on Location and Orientation of Electrodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leslie M. Stone-Roy

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Malfunctioning sensory systems can severely impact quality of life and repair is not always possible. One solution, called sensory substitution, is to use another sensory system to bring lost information to the brain. This approach often involves the use of bioengineered devices that electrically stimulate somatosensory fibers. Interestingly, the tongue is an ideal location for electrotactile stimulation due to its dense innervation, moisture, and protected environment. Success with transmitting visual and vestibular information through the tongue indicates promise for future applications. However, sensitivity and discrimination ability varies between individuals and across the tongue surface complicating efforts to produce reliable and consistent sensations. The goals of the present study were to investigate these differences more precisely to better understand the mechanosensory innervation of the tongue so that future electrotactile devices can be designed more effectively. Specifically, we tested whether stimulation of certain regions of the tongue consistently result in better perception, whether the spacing of stimulating electrodes affects perceived intensity, and whether the orientation of electrodes affects perceived intensity and discrimination. To test these hypotheses, we built a custom tongue stimulation device, recruited 25 participants, and collected perceived intensity and discrimination data. We then subjected the data to thorough statistical analyses. Consistent with previous studies, we found that stimulation of the anterior medial tongue region was perceived as more intense than stimulation of lateral and posterior regions. This region also had the best discrimination ability for electrodes. Dividing the stimulated tongue area into 16 distinct regions allowed us to compare perception ability between anterior and posterior regions, medial and lateral regions, and the left and right sides of the tongue. Stimulation of the most

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

Science.gov (United States)

Ro, Annie E.; Choi, Kyung-Hee

2009-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Ro, Annie E; Choi, Kyung-Hee

2009-01-01

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

A proposed cell model for multiple-occurrence regional landslide events: Implications for landslide susceptibility mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Crozier, M. J.

2017-10-01

Multiple-occurrence regional landslide events (MORLEs) consist of hundreds to thousands of shallow landslides occurring more or less simultaneously within defined areas, ranging from tens to thousands of square kilometres. While MORLEs can be triggered by rainstorms and earthquakes, this paper is confined to those landslide events triggered by rainstorms. Globally, MORLEs occur in a range of geological settings in areas of moderate to steep slopes subject to intense rainstorms. Individual landslides in rainstorm-triggered events are dominantly small, shallow debris and earth flows, and debris and earth slides involving regolith or weathered bedrock. The model used to characterise these events assumes that energy distribution within the event area is represented on the land surface by a cell structure; with maximum energy expenditure within an identifiable core and rapid dissipation concentrically away from the centre. The version of the model presented here has been developed for rainfall-triggered landslide events. It proposes that rainfall intensity can be used to determine different critical landslide response zones within the cell (referred to as core, middle, and periphery zones). These zones are most readily distinguished by two conditions: the proportion of the slope that fails and the particular type of the slope stability factor that assumes dominance in determining specific sites of landslide occurrence. The latter condition means that the power of any slope stability factor to distinguish between stable and unstable sites varies throughout the affected area in accordance with the landslide response zones within the cell; certain factors critical for determining the location of landslide sites in one part of the event area have little influence in other parts of the event area. The implication is that landslide susceptibility maps (and subsequently derived mitigation measures) based on conventional slope stability factors may have only limited validity

The INTIMATE event stratigraphy and recommendations for its use

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, Sune O.

2014-05-01

The North Atlantic INTIMATE (INtegration of Ice-core, MArine and TErrestrial records) group has previously recommended an Event Stratigraphy approach for the synchronisation of records of the Last Termination using the Greenland ice core records as the regional stratotypes. A key element of these protocols has been the formal definition of numbered Greenland Stadials (GS) and Greenland Interstadials (GI) within the past glacial period as the Greenland expressions of the characteristic Dansgaard-Oeschger events that represent cold and warm phases of the North Atlantic region, respectively. Using a recent synchronization of the NGRIP, GRIP, and GISP2 ice cores that allows the parallel analysis of all three records on a common time scale, we here present an extension of the GS/GI stratigraphic template to the entire glacial period. In addition to the well-known sequence of Dansgaard-Oeschger events that were first defined and numbered in the ice core records more than two decades ago, a number of short-lived climatic oscillations have been identified in the three synchronized records. Some of these events have been observed in other studies, but we here propose a consistent scheme for discriminating and naming all the significant climatic events of the last glacial period that are represented in the Greenland ice cores. In addition to presenting the updated event stratigraphy, we make a series of recommendations on how to refer to these periods in a way that promotes unambiguous comparison and correlation between different proxy records, providing a more secure basis for investigating the dynamics and fundamental causes of these climatic perturbations. The work presented is a part of a manuscript under review for publication in Quaternary Science Reviews. Author team: S.O. Rasmussen, M. Bigler, S.P.E. Blockley, T. Blunier, S.L. Buchardt, H.B. Clausen, I. Cvijanovic, D. Dahl-Jensen, S.J. Johnsen, H. Fischer, V. Gkinis, M. Guillevic, W.Z. Hoek, J.J. Lowe, J. Pedro, T

Water mass characteristic in the outflow region of the Indonesian throughflow during and post 2016 negative Indian ocean dipole event

Science.gov (United States)

Bayhaqi, A.; Iskandar, I.; Surinati, D.; Budiman, A. S.; Wardhana, A. K.; Dirhamsyah; Yuan, D.; Lestari, D. O.

2018-05-01

Strong El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole (pIOD) events in 2015/2016 followed by relatively strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole (nIOD) and weak La Niña in 2016 events have affected hydrography conditions in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) region. Two research cruises were conducted using RV Baruna Jaya VIII in August and November 2016. These cruises aim to evaluate possible impact of those two climate mode events on the water mass characteristic in the outflow region of the ITF. Hydrographic data from those two cruises were combined with the sea surface temperature (SST) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and surface wind data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The results showed that in the 2016 anomaly year, the cooler sea surface temperature was observed during the negative IOD (nIOD) event while the warmer temperature was found in the post of nIOD event. The observed water mass characteristics in the outflow region of the ITF revealed that the upper layer was dominated by the Indian Ocean water mass, while the Pacific Ocean water mass was observed in the deeper layer. The observed current data across the Sumba Strait showed that the South Java Coastal Current (SJCC) was observed in the upper layer, propagating eastward toward the Savu Sea. A few days later, the observed currents in the upper layer of the Ombai Strait revealed the ITF flow towards the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the lower layer showed an eastward flow towards the Ombai Strait.

Application of discriminant analysis and generalized distance measures to uranium exploration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beauchamp, J.J.; Begovich, C.L.; Kane, V.E.; Wolf, D.A.

1979-10-01

The National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Project has as its goal estimation of the nation's uranium resources. It is possible to use discriminant analysis methods on hydrogeochemical data collected in the NURE Program to aid in formulating geochemical models which can be used to identify the anomalous regions necessary for resource estimation. Discriminant analysis methods have been applied to data from the Plainview, Texas Quadrangle which has approximately 850 groundwater samples with more than 40 quantitative measurements per sample. Discriminant analysis topics involving estimation of misclassification probabilities, variable selection, and robust discrimination are applied. A method using generalized distance measures is given which enables assigning samples to a background population or a mineralized population whose parameters were estimated from separate studies. Each topic is related to its relevance in identifying areas of possible interest to uranium exploration

Discrimination and Assessment of Induced Seismicity in Active Tectonic Zones: A Case Study from Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Bachmann, C. E.; Lindsey, N.; Foxall, W.; Robertson, M.

2014-12-01

Earthquakes induced by human activity have become a matter of heightened public concern during recent years. Of particular concern is seismicity associated with wastewater injection, which has included events having magnitudes greater than 5. The causes of the induced events are primarily changes in pore-pressure, fluid volume and perhaps temperature due to injection. Recent research in the US has focused on mid-continental regions having low rates of naturally-occurring seismicity, where induced events can be identified by relatively straightforward spatial and temporal correlation of seismicity with high-volume injection activities. Recent examples include events correlated with injection of wastewater in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Ohio, and long-term brine injection in the Paradox Valley in Colorado. Even in some of the cases where there appears at first sight to be a clear spatial correlation between seismicity and injection, it has been difficult to establish causality definitively. Here, we discuss methods to identify induced seismicity in active tectonic regions. We concentrate our study on Southern California, where large numbers of wastewater injection wells are located in oil-producing basins that experience moderate to high rates of naturally-occurring seismicity. Using the catalog of high-precision CISN relocations produced by Hauksson et al. (BSSA, 2012), we aim to discriminate induced from natural events based on spatio-temporal patterns of seismicity occurrence characteristics and their relationships to injection activities, known active faults and other faults favorably oriented for slip under the tectonic stress field. Since the vast majority of induced earthquakes are very small, it is crucial to include all events above the detection threshold of the CISN in each area studied. In addition to exploring the correlation of seismicity to injection activities in time and space, we analyze variations in frequency-magnitude distributions, which can

Handling conditional discrimination

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2011-01-01

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

Discrimination of alpha particles in CdZnTe detectors with coplanar grid for the COBRA experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rebber, Henning [Universitaet Hamburg, Institut fuer Experimentalphysik, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); Collaboration: COBRA-Collaboration

2016-07-01

The aim of the COBRA experiment is the search for neutrinoless double beta decay using CdZnTe semiconductor detectors. A background rate in the order of 10{sup -3} counts per keV, kg and year is intended in order to be sensitive to a half-life larger than 10{sup 26} years. Measurements from a demonstrator setup and Monte Carlo simulations indicate that a large background component is due to alpha particles. These generate charge clouds of only few μm in diameter in the detector, leading to characteristic pulse features. Parameter-based cut criteria were developed to discriminate alpha events by means of their pulse shapes. The cuts were tested on data from alpha and beta irradiation of a (1 x 1 x 1) cm{sup 3} CdZnTe detector with coplanar grid. The pulse shapes of all event signals were read out by FADCs with a sampling rate of 100 MHz. The signals were reproduced by a detector simulation which hence was used to study the cuts for energies up to 3 MeV and different detector regions.

Improvement of IDC/CTBTO Event Locations in Latin America and the Caribbean Using a Regional Seismic Travel Time Model

Science.gov (United States)

Given, J. W.; Guendel, F.

2013-05-01

The International Data Centre is a vital element of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) verification mechanism. The fundamental mission of the International Data Centre (IDC) is to collect, process, and analyze monitoring data and to present results as event bulletins to Member States. For the IDC and in particular for waveform technologies, a key measure of the quality of its products is the accuracy by which every detected event is located. Accurate event location is crucial for purposes of an On Site Inspection (OSI), which would confirm the conduct of a nuclear test. Thus it is important for the IDC monitoring and data analysis to adopt new processing algorithms that improve the accuracy of event location. Among them the development of new algorithms to compute regional seismic travel times through 3-dimensional models have greatly increased IDC's location precision, the reduction of computational time, allowing forward and inverse modeling of large data sets. One of these algorithms has been the Regional Seismic Travel Time model (RSTT) of Myers et al., (2011). The RSTT model is nominally a global model; however, it currently covers only North America and Eurasia in sufficient detail. It is the intention CTBTO's Provisional Technical Secretariat and the IDC to extend the RSTT model to other regions of the earth, e.g. Latin America-Caribbean, Africa and Asia. This is particularly important for the IDC location procedure, as there are regions of the earth for which crustal models are not well constrained. For this purpose IDC has launched a RSTT initiative. In May 2012, a technical meeting was held in Vienna under the auspices of the CTBTO. The purpose of this meeting was to invite National Data Centre experts as well as network operators from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Latin and North America to discuss the context under which a project to extend the RSTT model would be implemented. A total of 41 participants from 32 Member States

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

OpenAIRE

Ro, Annie E.; Choi, Kyung-Hee

2009-01-01

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

Assessment of the regional economic impacts of catastrophic events: CGE analysis of resource loss and behavioral effects of an RDD attack scenario.

Science.gov (United States)

Giesecke, J A; Burns, W J; Barrett, A; Bayrak, E; Rose, A; Slovic, P; Suher, M

2012-04-01

We investigate the regional economic consequences of a hypothetical catastrophic event-attack via radiological dispersal device (RDD)-centered on the downtown Los Angeles area. We distinguish two routes via which such an event might affect regional economic activity: (i) reduction in effective resource supply (the resource loss effect) and (ii) shifts in the perceptions of economic agents (the behavioral effect). The resource loss effect relates to the physical destructiveness of the event, while the behavioral effect relates to changes in fear and risk perception. Both affect the size of the regional economy. RDD detonation causes little capital damage and few casualties, but generates substantial short-run resource loss via business interruption. Changes in fear and risk perception increase the supply cost of resources to the affected region, while simultaneously reducing demand for goods produced in the region. We use results from a nationwide survey, tailored to our RDD scenario, to inform our model values for behavioral effects. Survey results, supplemented by findings from previous research on stigmatized asset values, suggest that in the region affected by the RDD, households may require higher wages, investors may require higher returns, and customers may require price discounts. We show that because behavioral effects may have lingering long-term deleterious impacts on both the supply-cost of resources to a region and willingness to pay for regional output, they can generate changes in regional gross domestic product (GDP) much greater than those generated by resource loss effects. Implications for policies that have the potential to mitigate these effects are discussed. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-01-01

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

Variations of Kelvin waves around the TTL region during the stratospheric sudden warming events in the Northern Hemisphere winter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Jia

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Spatial and temporal variabilities of Kelvin waves during stratospheric sudden warming (SSW events are investigated by the ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and the results are validated by the COSMIC temperature data. A case study on an exceptionally large SSW event in 2009, and a composite analysis comprising 18 events from 1980 to 2013 are presented. During SSW events, the average temperature increases by 20 K in the polar stratosphere, while the temperature in the tropical stratosphere decreases by about 4 K. Kelvin wave with wave numbers 1 and 2, and periods 10–20 days, clearly appear around the tropical tropopause layer (TTL during SSWs. The Kelvin wave activity shows obvious coupling with the convection localized in the India Ocean and western Pacific (Indo-Pacific region. Detailed analysis suggests that the enhanced meridional circulation driven by the extratropical planetary wave forcing during SSW events leads to tropical upwelling, which further produces temperature decrease in the tropical stratosphere. The tropical upwelling and cooling consequently result in enhancement of convection in the equatorial region, which excites the strong Kelvin wave activity. In addition, we investigated the Kelvin wave acceleration to the eastward zonal wind anomalies in the equatorial stratosphere during SSW events. The composite analysis shows that the proportion of Kelvin wave contribution ranges from 5 to 35 % during SSWs, much larger than in the non-SSW mid-winters (less than 5 % in the stratosphere. However, the Kelvin wave alone is insufficient to drive the equatorial eastward zonal wind anomalies during the SSW events, which suggests that the effects of other types of equatorial waves may not be neglected.

Perceived discrimination, family functioning, and depressive symptoms among immigrant women in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hao-Jan; Wu, Jyun-Yi; Huang, Sheng-Shiung; Lien, Mei-Huei; Lee, Tony Szu-Hsien

2014-10-01

This study examined the moderating effect of family functioning on the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms in immigrant women. A total of 239 immigrant women were selected from four administrative regions in Central Taiwan. Questionnaires concerning perceived discrimination, family functioning (including family cohesion and family adaptability), depressive symptoms, and demographic characteristics were completed by either women themselves (N = 120) or their husbands (N = 119). The moderating effect of family functioning on the relationship between perceived discrimination and depression symptoms was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Findings showed that a higher level of perceived discrimination among immigrant women is associated with more severe depressive symptoms. Family functioning serves as a moderator between the relationship of perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms, but the moderating effect of family adaptability was evident only in data reported by immigrant women. The results indicate that perceived discrimination has negative mental health implications, and also point to the importance of family functioning for depression. Findings suggest that providers should consider addressing immigrant women's mental health needs through declining their psychosocial distress at multiple ecological levels.

LABOR DISCRIMINATION IN BULGARIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vyara Slavyanska

2017-03-01

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

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2013-01-01

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

Landsliding and flooding event triggered by heavy rains in the Rize region

Science.gov (United States)

Yalcin, Ali; Kavurmaci, M. Murat

2013-04-01

Rize province has been significantly damaged by frequent landslides and floods which are caused by severe rainfalls and result in many casualties. The area is prone to landslides because of the climate conditions, geologic, and land cover characteristics of the region. The most recent landslide occurred on August 26, 2010 in Gundogdu town. The landslides have caused large numbers of casualties and huge economic losses in the region. Thirteen people died, twenty houses collapsed, more than a hundred houses damaged, and one hundred fifty vehicles were damaged in the Gundogdu landslide. Flood event is often seen in the region of Rize, due to continuous rainfall. Floods cause huge loss of life and property in this region. Rainfall is the most frequent landslide-triggering factor in East Black Sea region, Turkey, especially Rize region. Rize is the rainiest city of Turkey. Total annual precipitation is over 2300 mm, and precipitation is equally distributed in each month. However, in August 26, 166.5 mm precipitation rained within 24 hours in the region and this rainstorm caused great damage. The intensity rainfall periods were become as an indicator of landslide activity. It is very important that the presence of suitable lithologic units for occurring landslides. There are appropriate materials to contributed constitution of landslides in the study area; completely weathered dacite. In addition, intensity land cover types as tea plantations have been blocked surface flows and rainfall is able to quickly penetrate into the soil through open tension cracks that appear in the landslide head and in stretching zones. According to the results of the analysis, the study area has been overlaid tea garden 70 % percentage approximately. Furthermore, the landslide risks have increased by devastation of land cover in this region. In this region, over-steepened slopes, slope saturation in areas of heavy rainfall, and removal of slope vegetation can also increase landslide potential

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-01-01

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

Effects of damaging hydrogeological events on people throughout 15 years in a Mediterranean region

Science.gov (United States)

Aceto, Luigi; Aurora Pasqua, A.; Petrucci, Olga

2017-07-01

Damaging Hydrogeological Events (DHE) are defined as rainy periods during which landslides and floods can damage people. The paper investigated the effects of DHE on people living in Calabria (southern Italy) in the period 2000-2014, using data coming from the systematic survey of regional newspapers. Data about fatalities, people injured and people involved (not killed neither hurt) were stored in the database named PEOPLE, made of three sections: (1) event identification, (2) victim-event interaction, (3) effects on people. The outcomes highlighted vulnerability factors related to gender and age: males were killed more frequently (75 %) than females (25 %), and fatalities were older (average age 49 years) than injured (40.1 years) and involved people (40.5 years). The average ages of females killed (67.5 years), injured (43.4 years) and involved (44.6 years) were higher than the same values assessed for males, maybe indicating that younger females tended to be more cautious than same-age males, while older females showed an intrinsic greater vulnerability. Involved people were younger than injured people and fatalities, perhaps because younger people show greater promptness to react in dangerous situations. In the study region, floods caused more fatalities (67.9 %), injured (55 %) and involved people (55.3 %) than landslides. Fatalities and injuries mainly occurred outdoor, especially along roads, and the most dangerous dynamic was to be dragged by flood, causing the majority of fatalities (71.4 %). These outcomes can be used to strengthen the strategies aimed at saving people, and to customise warning campaigns according to the local risk features and people's behaviour. The results can improve the understanding of the potential impacts of geo-hydrological hazards on the population and can increase risk awareness among both administrators and citizens.

Measuring the regional economic impact of mega-events: what are the benefits of the 2014 Olympics for Sochi?

OpenAIRE

Mueller, Martin

2009-01-01

The economic benefits of mega-events such as the Olympic Games are much touted but little quantified. This paper first presents a systematisation of the money streams associated with hosting the Olympic Games and then introduces basic concepts from regional economics. On this basis it outlines a general model that could be employed to estimate the regional economic impact of tourism associated with the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

Relative sensitivity of depth discrimination for ankle inversion and plantar flexion movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Georgia; Waddington, Gordon; Adams, Roger

2014-02-01

25 participants (20 women, 5 men) were tested for sensitivity in discrimination between sets of six movements centered on 8 degrees, 11 degrees, and 14 degrees, and separated by 0.3 degrees. Both inversion and plantar flexion movements were tested. Discrimination of the extent of inversion movement was observed to decline linearly with increasing depth; however, for plantar flexion, the discrimination function for movement extent was found to be non-linear. The relatively better discrimination of plantar flexion movements than inversion movements at around 11 degrees from horizontal is interpreted as an effect arising from differential amounts of practice through use, because this position is associated with the plantar flexion movement made in normal walking. The fact that plantar flexion movements are discriminated better than inversion at one region but not others argues against accounts of superior proprioceptive sensitivity for plantar flexion compared to inversion that are based on general properties of plantar flexion such as the number of muscle fibres on stretch.

The consequences of perceived discrimination for psychological well-being: a meta-analytic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Michael T; Branscombe, Nyla R; Postmes, Tom; Garcia, Amber

2014-07-01

In 2 meta-analyses, we examined the relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological well-being and tested a number of moderators of that relationship. In Meta-Analysis 1 (328 independent effect sizes, N = 144,246), we examined correlational data measuring both perceived discrimination and psychological well-being (e.g., self-esteem, depression, anxiety, psychological distress, life satisfaction). Using a random-effects model, the mean weighted effect size was significantly negative, indicating harm (r = -.23). Effect sizes were larger for disadvantaged groups (r = -.24) compared to advantaged groups (r = -.10), larger for children compared to adults, larger for perceptions of personal discrimination compared to group discrimination, and weaker for racism and sexism compared to other stigmas. The negative relationship was significant across different operationalizations of well-being but was somewhat weaker for positive outcomes (e.g., self-esteem, positive affect) than for negative outcomes (e.g., depression, anxiety, negative affect). Importantly, the effect size was significantly negative even in longitudinal studies that controlled for prior levels of well-being (r = -.15). In Meta-Analysis 2 (54 independent effect sizes, N = 2,640), we examined experimental data from studies manipulating perceptions of discrimination and measuring well-being. We found that the effect of discrimination on well-being was significantly negative for studies that manipulated general perceptions of discrimination (d = -.25), but effects did not differ from 0 when attributions to discrimination for a specific negative event were compared to personal attributions (d = .06). Overall, results support the idea that the pervasiveness of perceived discrimination is fundamental to its harmful effects on psychological well-being. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

A cosmic-ray nuclear event with an anomalously strong concentration of energy and particles in the central region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amato, N.M.; Arata, N.; Maldonado, R.H.C.

1987-01-01

A cosmic-ray-induced nuclear event detected in an emulsion chamber is described. The event consist of 217 shower cores with ΣEγ=1.275 TeV. In a logarithmic scale, energy and particles are emitted most densely at the small lateral distance corresponding to 0.5 mm; 77% of the total energy and 61% of the total multiplicity are inside a radius of 0.65 cm. The shower cores in the central region show exponential-type energy distribution and nonisotropic azimuthal distribution

Set discrimination of quantum states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Shengyu; Ying Mingsheng

2002-01-01

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

Pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and physiological spread-of-excitation using Cochlear's dual-electrode mode.

Science.gov (United States)

Goehring, Jenny L; Neff, Donna L; Baudhuin, Jacquelyn L; Hughes, Michelle L

2014-08-01

This study compared pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) spatial excitation patterns for adjacent physical electrodes (PEs) and the corresponding dual electrodes (DEs) for newer-generation Cochlear devices (Cochlear Ltd., Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia). The first goal was to determine whether pitch ranking and electrode discrimination yield similar outcomes for PEs and DEs. The second goal was to determine if the amount of spatial separation among ECAP excitation patterns (separation index, Σ) between adjacent PEs and the PE-DE pairs can predict performance on the psychophysical tasks. Using non-adaptive procedures, 13 subjects completed pitch ranking and electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs and the corresponding PE-DE pairs (DE versus each flanking PE) from the basal, middle, and apical electrode regions. Analysis of d' scores indicated that pitch-ranking and electrode-discrimination scores were not significantly different, but rather produced similar levels of performance. As expected, accuracy was significantly better for the PE-PE comparison than either PE-DE comparison. Correlations of the psychophysical versus ECAP Σ measures were positive; however, not all test/region correlations were significant across the array. Thus, the ECAP separation index is not sensitive enough to predict performance on behavioral tasks of pitch ranking or electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs or corresponding DEs.

Regional and national differences in stressful life events: The role of cultural factors, economic development, and gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Vázquez, José Juan; Panadero, Sonia; Martín, Rosa M

2015-07-01

The study analyzed differences in the risk of experiencing stressful life events (SLE) according to cultural factors, the level of economic development of the region inhabited, and gender. Information was gathered on the number and nature of SLE experienced by a sample of 604 undergraduates from 3 regions with very different levels of economic development: Madrid (Spain), León (Nicaragua), and Bilwi (Nicaragua). The results indicated a greater risk of experiencing SLE among undergraduates from Nicaragua, but few differences attributed to the undergraduates' gender or the level of economic development in the region they inhabit within the same country. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Efficiency of observer brightness discrimination in original and subracted images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swensson, R.G.; Kazda, I.; Nawfel, R.; Judy, P.F.

1990-01-01

This paper reports that, for an optimal image calculation, discriminating pairs of objects that differ only in brightness is equivalent to discriminating polarity differences in their subtraction images. This experiment measured and compared how efficiently human observers could perform the two different discriminations posed by such original and subtracted images. Disks of equal size, separated by their diameter, were superimposed on incorrelated, Gaussian noise backgrounds at different contrasts that made the two disks readily visible on the displayed radiographs. The digitally subtracted image-regions containing the two disks of each pair (shifted to registration) produced subtraction images with low-contrast disks that were either brighter or darker than the background. Observer performances in each task (measured by receiver operating characteristic [ROC] analysis) was compared with that of an optimal calculation (cross- correlator)

REGIONAL AIR-SEA INTERACTION (RASI) GAP WIND AND COASTAL UPWELLING EVENTS CLIMATOLOGY GULF OF PAPAGAYO, COSTA RICA V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Regional Air-Sea Interactions (RASI) Gap Wind and Coastal Upwelling Events Climatology Gulf of Papagayo, Costa Rica dataset was created using an automated...

Discrimination and delusional ideation.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2003-01-01

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

Discovery of a bright microlensing event with planetary features towards the Taurus region: a super-Earth planet

Science.gov (United States)

Nucita, A. A.; Licchelli, D.; De Paolis, F.; Ingrosso, G.; Strafella, F.; Katysheva, N.; Shugarov, S.

2018-05-01

The transient event labelled as TCP J05074264+2447555 recently discovered towards the Taurus region was quickly recognized to be an ongoing microlensing event on a source located at distance of only 700-800 pc from Earth. Here, we show that observations with high sampling rate close to the time of maximum magnification revealed features that imply the presence of a binary lens system with very low-mass ratio components. We present a complete description of the binary lens system, which host an Earth-like planet with most likely mass of 9.2 ± 6.6 M⊕. Furthermore, the source estimated location and detailed Monte Carlo simulations allowed us to classify the event as due to the closest lens system, being at a distance of ≃380 pc and mass ≃0.25 M⊙.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2008-06-01

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

A cosmic-ray nuclear event with an anomalously strong concentration of energy and particles in the central region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amato, N.M.; Arata, N.; Maldonado, R.H.C.

1986-01-01

A cosmic-ray induced nuclear event detected in the emulsion chamber is described. The event consists of 217 shower cores with ΣEγ = 1,275 TeV. In log scale, energy and particles are emitted most densely at the small lateral distance corresponding to 0.5 mm; 77 % of the total energy and 61 % of the total multiplicity are inside the radius of 0.65 cm. The shower cores in the central region show exponential-type energy distribution and non-isotropic azimuthal distribution. This event indicates a possibility that phenomena of large transverse momentum could happen to produce a strong concentration of energy and particles in the very forward direction. (Authors) [pt

Calreticulin discriminates the proximal region at the N-glycosylation site of Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 ligand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirano, Makoto; Adachi, Yuka [Department of Materials and Life Science, Seikei University, 3-3-1 Kichijoji-kita, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8633 (Japan); Ito, Yukishige [Synthetic Cellular Chemistry Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Ito Glycotrilogy Project, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Totani, Kiichiro, E-mail: ktotani@st.seikei.ac.jp [Department of Materials and Life Science, Seikei University, 3-3-1 Kichijoji-kita, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8633 (Japan)

2015-10-23

Calreticulin (CRT) is well known as a lectin-like chaperone that recognizes Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9)-glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, whether CRT can directly interact with the aglycone moiety (protein portion) of the glycoprotein remains controversial. To improve our understanding of CRT interactions, structure-defined G1M9-derivatives with different aglycones (–OH, –Gly–NH{sub 2}, and –Gly–Glu–{sup t}Bu) were used as CRT ligands, and their interactions with recombinant CRT were analyzed using thermal shift analysis. The results showed that CRT binds strongly to a G1M9-ligand in the order –Gly–Glu–{sup t}Bu > –Gly–NH{sub 2} > –OH, which is the same as that of the reglucosylation of Man9GlcNAc2 (M9)-derivatives by the folding sensor enzyme UGGT (UDP-glucose: glycoprotein glucosyltransferase). Our results indicate that, similar to UGGT, CRT discriminates the proximal region at the N-glycosylation site, suggesting a similar mechanism mediating the recognition of aglycone moieties in the ER glycoprotein quality control system. - Highlights: • Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9) ligands with different aglycones were chemically prepared. • Calreticulin (CRT) discriminates the aglycone of Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9) ligand. • CRT binds with G1M9 ligands in a similar manner to folding sensor enzyme.

Material Discrimination Based on K-edge Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng He

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Spectral/multienergy CT employing the state-of-the-art energy-discriminative photon-counting detector can identify absorption features in the multiple ranges of photon energies and has the potential to distinguish different materials based on K-edge characteristics. K-edge characteristics involve the sudden attenuation increase in the attenuation profile of a relatively high atomic number material. Hence, spectral CT can utilize material K-edge characteristics (sudden attenuation increase to capture images in available energy bins (levels/windows to distinguish different material components. In this paper, we propose an imaging model based on K-edge characteristics for maximum material discrimination with spectral CT. The wider the energy bin width is, the lower the noise level is, but the poorer the reconstructed image contrast is. Here, we introduce the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR criterion to optimize the energy bin width after the K-edge jump for the maximum CNR. In the simulation, we analyze the reconstructed image quality in different energy bins and demonstrate that our proposed optimization approach can maximize CNR between target region and background region in reconstructed image.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-11-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-01-01

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

[Discrimination of Rice Syrup Adulterant of Acacia Honey Based Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan-nan; Chen, Lan-zhen; Xue, Xiao-feng; Wu, Li-ming; Li, Yi; Yang, Juan

2015-09-01

At present, the rice syrup as a low price of the sweeteners was often adulterated into acacia honey and the adulterated honeys were sold in honey markets, while there is no suitable and fast method to identify honey adulterated with rice syrup. In this study, Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) combined with chemometric methods were used to discriminate authenticity of honey. 20 unprocessed acacia honey samples from the different honey producing areas, mixed? with different proportion of rice syrup, were prepared of seven different concentration gradient? including 121 samples. The near infrared spectrum (NIR) instrument and spectrum processing software have been applied in the? spectrum? scanning and data conversion on adulterant samples, respectively. Then it was analyzed by Principal component analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminant analysis methods in order to discriminating adulterated honey. The results showed that after principal components analysis, the first two principal components accounted for 97.23% of total variation, but the regionalism of the score plot of the first two PCs was not obvious, so the canonical discriminant analysis was used to make the further discrimination, all samples had been discriminated correctly, the first two discriminant functions accounted for 91.6% among the six canonical discriminant functions, Then the different concentration of adulterant samples can be discriminated correctly, it illustrate that canonical discriminant analysis method combined with NIR spectroscopy is not only feasible but also practical for rapid and effective discriminate of the rice syrup adulterant of acacia honey.

Discrimination of gender using facial image with expression change

Science.gov (United States)

Kuniyada, Jun; Fukuda, Takahiro; Terada, Kenji

2005-12-01

By carrying out marketing research, the managers of large-sized department stores or small convenience stores obtain the information such as ratio of men and women of visitors and an age group, and improve their management plan. However, these works are carried out in the manual operations, and it becomes a big burden to small stores. In this paper, the authors propose a method of men and women discrimination by extracting difference of the facial expression change from color facial images. Now, there are a lot of methods of the automatic recognition of the individual using a motion facial image or a still facial image in the field of image processing. However, it is very difficult to discriminate gender under the influence of the hairstyle and clothes, etc. Therefore, we propose the method which is not affected by personality such as size and position of facial parts by paying attention to a change of an expression. In this method, it is necessary to obtain two facial images with an expression and an expressionless. First, a region of facial surface and the regions of facial parts such as eyes, nose, and mouth are extracted in the facial image with color information of hue and saturation in HSV color system and emphasized edge information. Next, the features are extracted by calculating the rate of the change of each facial part generated by an expression change. In the last step, the values of those features are compared between the input data and the database, and the gender is discriminated. In this paper, it experimented for the laughing expression and smile expression, and good results were provided for discriminating gender.

False alarms and mine seismicity: An example from the Gentry Mountain mining region, Utah. Los Alamos Source Region Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taylor, S.R.

1992-09-23

Mining regions are a cause of concern for monitoring of nuclear test ban treaties because they present the opportunity for clandestine nuclear tests (i.e. decoupled explosions). Mining operations are often characterized by high seismicity rates and can provide the cover for excavating voids for decoupling. Chemical explosions (seemingly as part of normal mining activities) can be used to complicate the signals from a simultaneous decoupled nuclear explosion. Thus, most concern about mines has dealt with the issue of missed violations to a test ban treaty. In this study, we raise the diplomatic concern of false alarms associated with mining activities. Numerous reports and papers have been published about anomalous seismicity associated with mining activities. As part of a large discrimination study in the western US (Taylor et al., 1989), we had one earthquake that was consistently classified as an explosion. The magnitude 3.5 disturbance occurred on May 14, 1981 and was conspicuous in its lack of Love waves, relative lack of high- frequency energy, low Lg/Pg ratio, and high m{sub b} {minus} M{sub s}. A moment-tensor solution by Patton and Zandt (1991) indicated the event had a large implosional component. The event occurred in the Gentry Mountain coal mining region in the eastern Wasatch Plateau, Utah. Using a simple source representation, we modeled the event as a tabular excavation collapse that occurred as a result of normal mining activities. This study raises the importance of having a good catalogue of seismic data and information about mining activities from potential proliferant nations.

Gain of chromosomal region 20q and loss of 18 discriminates between Lynch syndrome and familial colorectal cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Therkildsen, Christina; Jönsson, Göran; Dominguez-Valentin, Mev

2013-01-01

Lynch syndrome and familial colorectal cancer type X, FCCTX, represent the two predominant colorectal cancer syndromes. Whereas Lynch syndrome is clinically and genetically well defined, the genetic cause of FCCTX is unknown and genomic differences between Lynch syndrome and FCCTX tumours...... are largely unknown. We applied array-based comparative genomic hybridisation to 23 colorectal cancers from FCCTX with comparison to 23 Lynch syndrome tumours and to 45 sporadic colorectal cancers. FCCTX tumours showed genomic complexity with frequent gains on chromosomes 20q, 19 and 17 and losses of 18, 8p...... and 15. Gain of genetic material in two separate regions encompassing, 20q12-13.12 and 20q13.2-13.32, was identified in 65% of the FCCTX tumours. Gain of material on chromosome 20q and loss on chromosome 18 significantly discriminated colorectal cancers associated with FCCTX from Lynch syndrome, which...

Application of discriminant analysis and generalized distance measures to uranium exploration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beauchamp, J.J.; Begovich, C.L.; Kane, V.E.; Wolf, D.A.

1980-01-01

The National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) Program has as its goal the estimation of the nation's uranium resources. It is possile to use discriminant analysis methods on hydrogeochemical data collected in the NURE Program to aid in fomulating geochemical models that can be used to identify the anomalous areas used in resource estimation. Discriminant' analysis methods have been applied to data from the Plainview, Texas Quadrangle which has approximately 850 groundwater samples with more than 40 quantitative measurements per sample. Discriminant analysis topics involving estimation of misclassification probabilities, variable selection, and robust discrimination are applied. A method using generalized distance measures is given which enables the assignment of samples to a background population or a mineralized population whose parameters were estimated from separate studies. Each topic is related to its relevance in identifying areas of possible interest to uranium exploration. However, the methodology presented here is applicable to the identification of regions associated with other types of resources. 8 figures, 3 tables

Differential response of vegetation in Hulun Lake region at the northern margin of Asian summer monsoon to extreme cold events of the last deglaciation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shengrui; Xiao, Jule; Xu, Qinghai; Wen, Ruilin; Fan, Jiawei; Huang, Yun; Yamagata, Hideki

2018-06-01

The response of vegetation to extreme cold events during the last deglaciation is important for assessing the impact of possible extreme climatic events on terrestrial ecosystems under future global warming scenarios. Here, we present a detailed record of the development of regional vegetation in the northern margin of Asian summer monsoon during the last deglaciation (16,500-11,000 cal yr BP) based on a radiocarbon-dated high-resolution pollen record from Hulun Lake, northeast China. The results show that the regional vegetation changed from subalpine meadow-desert steppe to mixed coniferous and deciduous forest-typical steppe during the last deglaciation. However, its responses to the Heinrich event 1 (H1) and the Younger Dryas event (YD) were significantly different: during the H1 event, scattered sparse forest was present in the surrounding mountains, while within the lake catchment the vegetation cover was poor and was dominated by desert steppe. In contrast, during the YD event, deciduous forest developed and the proportion of coniferous forest increased in the mountains, the lake catchment was occupied by typical steppe. We suggest that changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation and land surface conditions (ice sheets and sea level) caused temperature and monsoonal precipitation variations that contributed to the contrasting vegetation response during the two cold events. We conclude that under future global warming scenarios, extreme climatic events may cause a deterioration of the ecological environment of the Hulun Lake region, resulting in increased coniferous forest and decreased total forest cover in the surrounding mountains, and a reduction in typical steppe in the lake catchment.

Record-low primary productivity and high plant damage in the Nordic Arctic Region in 2012 caused by multiple weather events and pest outbreaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjerke, Jarle W; Jepsen, Jane U; Lovibond, Sarah; Tømmervik, Hans; Rune Karlsen, Stein; Arild Høgda, Kjell; Malnes, Eirik; Vikhamar-Schuler, Dagrun

2014-01-01

The release of cold temperature constraints on photosynthesis has led to increased productivity (greening) in significant parts (32–39%) of the Arctic, but much of the Arctic shows stable (57–64%) or reduced productivity (browning, <4%). Summer drought and wildfires are the best-documented drivers causing browning of continental areas, but factors dampening the greening effect of more maritime regions have remained elusive. Here we show how multiple anomalous weather events severely affected the terrestrial productivity during one water year (October 2011–September 2012) in a maritime region north of the Arctic Circle, the Nordic Arctic Region, and contributed to the lowest mean vegetation greenness (normalized difference vegetation index) recorded this century. Procedures for field data sampling were designed during or shortly after the events in order to assess both the variability in effects and the maximum effects of the stressors. Outbreaks of insect and fungal pests also contributed to low greenness. Vegetation greenness in 2012 was 6.8% lower than the 2000–11 average and 58% lower in the worst affected areas that were under multiple stressors. These results indicate the importance of events (some being mostly neglected in climate change effect studies and monitoring) for primary productivity in a high-latitude maritime region, and highlight the importance of monitoring plant damage in the field and including frequencies of stress events in models of carbon economy and ecosystem change in the Arctic. Fourteen weather events and anomalies and 32 hypothesized impacts on plant productivity are summarized as an aid for directing future research. (letter)

Perceived discrimination against diabetics in the workplace and in work-related insurances in Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Nebiker-Pedrotti, Piera M; Keller, Ulrich; Iselin, Hans-Ulrich; Ruiz, Juan; Pärli, Kurt; Caplazi, Alexandra; Puder, Jardena J

2009-02-21

To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of perceived diabetes-related discrimination in the workplace and in work-related insurances in persons with diabetes mellitus in Switzerland. 509 insulin-treated diabetic subjects representative of the northwestern Swiss population responded to a self-report questionnaire on perceived diabetes-related discrimination in the workplace and in work-related insurances (salary loss insurance, supplementary occupational plan). Discrimination was defined as being treated differently at least once in relation to diabetes. The reported rates of different aspects of discrimination in the workplace and in work-related insurances ranged between 5-11% and 4-15% respectively. Risk factors that independently increased the risk of not being hired due to diabetes were the presence of at least two severe hypoglycaemic events/year and relevant diabetic complications (OR 5.6 and OR 2.6 respectively; bothdiscrimination in work-related insurances (OR for denial 2.1-2.4; OR for reserve 3.9-4.4; alldiscrimination in the workplace and by work-related insurances is a common problem. In the light of our findings the introduction of effective non-discrimination legislation for patients with chronic illnesses appears to be desirable.

Discrimination of Geographical Origin of Asian Garlic Using Isotopic and Chemical Datasets under Stepwise Principal Component Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tsang-Sen; Lin, Jhen-Nan; Peng, Tsung-Ren

2018-01-16

Isotopic compositions of δ 2 H, δ 18 O, δ 13 C, and δ 15 N and concentrations of 22 trace elements from garlic samples were analyzed and processed with stepwise principal component analysis (PCA) to discriminate garlic's country of origin among Asian regions including South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China. Results indicate that there is no single trace-element concentration or isotopic composition that can accomplish the study's purpose and the stepwise PCA approach proposed does allow for discrimination between countries on a regional basis. Sequentially, Step-1 PCA distinguishes garlic's country of origin among Taiwanese, South Korean, and Vietnamese samples; Step-2 PCA discriminates Chinese garlic from South Korean garlic; and Step-3 and Step-4 PCA, Chinese garlic from Vietnamese garlic. In model tests, countries of origin of all audit samples were correctly discriminated by stepwise PCA. Consequently, this study demonstrates that stepwise PCA as applied is a simple and effective approach to discriminating country of origin among Asian garlics. © 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Socially-Tolerable Discrimination

OpenAIRE

Amegashie, J. Atsu

2008-01-01

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

Soybean varieties discrimination using non-imaging hyperspectral sensor

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-03-01

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

Racial/Ethnic Workplace Discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-01-01

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

DETECTION OF SUPERSONIC DOWNFLOWS AND ASSOCIATED HEATING EVENTS IN THE TRANSITION REGION ABOVE SUNSPOTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kleint, L.; Martínez-Sykora, J. [Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, 625 2nd Street, Ste. 209, Petaluma, CA (United States); Antolin, P. [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan); Tian, H.; Testa, P.; Reeves, K. K.; McKillop, S.; Saar, S.; Golub, L. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Judge, P. [High Altitude Observatory/NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States); De Pontieu, B.; Wuelser, J. P.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, N.; Lemen, J.; Tarbell, T. D.; Title, A. [Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, 3251 Hanover St., Org. ADBS, Bldg. 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (United States); Carlsson, M.; Hansteen, V. [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Jaeggli, S., E-mail: lucia.kleint@fhnw.ch [Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, P.O. Box 173840, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States); and others

2014-07-10

Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph data allow us to study the solar transition region (TR) with an unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.''33. On 2013 August 30, we observed bursts of high Doppler shifts suggesting strong supersonic downflows of up to 200 km s{sup –1} and weaker, slightly slower upflows in the spectral lines Mg II h and k, C II 1336, Si IV 1394 Å, and 1403 Å, that are correlated with brightenings in the slitjaw images (SJIs). The bursty behavior lasts throughout the 2 hr observation, with average burst durations of about 20 s. The locations of these short-lived events appear to be the umbral and penumbral footpoints of EUV loops. Fast apparent downflows are observed along these loops in the SJIs and in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, suggesting that the loops are thermally unstable. We interpret the observations as cool material falling from coronal heights, and especially coronal rain produced along the thermally unstable loops, which leads to an increase of intensity at the loop footpoints, probably indicating an increase of density and temperature in the TR. The rain speeds are on the higher end of previously reported speeds for this phenomenon, and possibly higher than the free-fall velocity along the loops. On other observing days, similar bright dots are sometimes aligned into ribbons, resembling small flare ribbons. These observations provide a first insight into small-scale heating events in sunspots in the TR.

Neutron-gamma discrimination in mixed field by pulse shape discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2009-01-01

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

Consumers' Motivations and Dairy Production Beliefs Regarding Participation in an Educational Dairy Farm Event

Science.gov (United States)

LaFollette, Lindsay K.; Knobloch, Neil A.; Schutz, Michael M.; Brady, Colleen M.

2015-01-01

Exploratory discriminant analysis was used to determine the extent adult consumers' interest motivation to participate in a free educational dairy farm event and their beliefs of the dairy industry could correctly classify the respondents' predicted participation in a nonformal educational event. The most prominent conclusion of the study was that…

Energy efficient data representation and aggregation with event region detection in wireless sensor networks

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Torsha

Unlike conventional networks, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are limited in power, have much smaller memory buffers, and possess relatively slower processing speeds. These characteristics necessitate minimum transfer and storage of information in order to prolong the network lifetime. In this dissertation, we exploit the spatio-temporal nature of sensor data to approximate the current values of the sensors based on readings obtained from neighboring sensors and itself. We propose a Tree based polynomial REGression algorithm, (TREG) that addresses the problem of data compression in wireless sensor networks. Instead of aggregated data, a polynomial function (P) is computed by the regression function, TREG. The coefficients of P are then passed to achieve the following goals: (i) The sink can get attribute values in the regions devoid of sensor nodes, and (ii) Readings over any portion of the region can be obtained at one time by querying the root of the tree. As the size of the data packet from each tree node to its parent remains constant, the proposed scheme scales very well with growing network density or increased coverage area. Since physical attributes exhibit a gradual change over time, we propose an iterative scheme, UPDATE_COEFF, which obviates the need to perform the regression function repeatedly and uses approximations based on previous readings. Extensive simulations are performed on real world data to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed aggregation algorithm, TREG. Results reveal that for a network density of 0.0025 nodes/m2, a complete binary tree of depth 4 could provide the absolute error to be less than 6%. A data compression ratio of about 0.02 is achieved using our proposed algorithm, which is almost independent of the tree depth. In addition, our proposed updating scheme makes the aggregation process faster while maintaining the desired error bounds. We also propose a Polynomial-based scheme that addresses the problem of Event Region

[Healthcare mistreatment attributed to discrimination among mapuche patients and discontinuation of diabetes care].

Science.gov (United States)

Ortiz, Manuel S; Baeza-Rivera, María José; Salinas-Oñate, Natalia; Flynn, Patricia; Betancourt, Héctor

2016-10-01

The negative impact of perceived discrimination on health outcomes is well established. However, less attention has been directed towards understanding the effect of perceived discrimination on health behaviors relevant for the treatment of diabetes in ethnic minorities. To examine the effects of healthcare mistreatment attributed to discrimination on the continuity of Type 2 Diabetes (DM2) care among mapuche patients in a southern region of Chile. A non-probabilistic sample of 85 mapuche DM2 patients were recruited from public and private health systems. Eligibility criteria included having experienced at least one incident of interpersonal healthcare mistreatment. All participants answered an instrument designed to measure healthcare mistreatment and continuity of diabetes care. Healthcare mistreatment attributed to ethnic discrimination was associated with the discontinuation of diabetes care. Healthcare mistreatment attributed to discrimination negatively impacted the continuity of diabetes care, a fact which may provide a better understanding of health disparities in ethnic minorities.

Impacts of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Regional Climate: Extreme Events, Stagnation, and the United States Warming Hole

Science.gov (United States)

Mascioli, Nora R.

Extreme temperatures, heat waves, heavy rainfall events, drought, and extreme air pollution events have adverse effects on human health, infrastructure, agriculture and economies. The frequency, magnitude and duration of these events are expected to change in the future in response to increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing aerosols, but future climate projections are uncertain. A significant portion of this uncertainty arises from uncertainty in the effects of aerosol forcing: to what extent were the effects from greenhouse gases masked by aerosol forcing over the historical observational period, and how much will decreases in aerosol forcing influence regional and global climate over the remainder of the 21st century? The observed frequency and intensity of extreme heat and precipitation events have increased in the U.S. over the latter half of the 20th century. Using aerosol only (AER) and greenhouse gas only (GHG) simulations from 1860 to 2005 in the GFDL CM3 chemistry-climate model, I parse apart the competing influences of aerosols and greenhouse gases on these extreme events. I find that small changes in extremes in the "all forcing" simulations reflect cancellations between the effects of increasing anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases. In AER, extreme high temperatures and the number of days with temperatures above the 90th percentile decline over most of the U.S., while in GHG high temperature extremes increase over most of the U.S. The spatial response patterns in AER and GHG are significantly anti-correlated, suggesting a preferred regional mode of response that is largely independent of the type of forcing. Extreme precipitation over the eastern U.S. decreases in AER, particularly in winter, and increases over the eastern and central U.S. in GHG, particularly in spring. Over the 21 st century under the RCP8.5 emissions scenario, the patterns of extreme temperature and precipitation change associated with greenhouse gas forcing dominate. The

Discriminant analysis to predict the occurrence of ELMs in H-mode discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kardaun, O.J.W.F.; Itoh, S.; Itoh, K.; Kardaun, J.W.P.F.

1993-08-01

After an exposition of its theoretical background, discriminant analysis is applied to the H-mode confinement database to find the region in plasma parameter space in which H-mode with small ELMs (Edge Localized Modes) is likely to occur. The boundary of this region is determined by the condition that the probability of appearance of such a type of H-mode, as a function of the plasma parameters, should be (1) larger than some threshold value and (2) larger than the corresponding probability for other types of H-mode (i.e., H-mode without ELMs or with giant ELMs). In practice, the discrimination has been performed for the ASDEX, JET and JFT-2M tokamaks (a) using four instantaneous plasma parameters (injected power P inj , magnetic field B t , plasma current I p and line averaged electron density (n-bar e ) and (b) taking also memory effects of the plasma and the distance between the plasma and the wall into account, while using variables that are normalised with respect to machine size. Generally speaking, it is found that there is a substantial overlap between the region of H-mode with small ELMs and the region of the two other types of H-mode. However, the ELM-free and the giant ELM H-modes relatively rarely appear in the region, that, according to the analysis, is allocated to small ELMs. A reliable production of H-mode with only small ELMs seems well possible by choosing this regime in parameter space. In the present study, it was not attempted to arrive at a unified discrimination across the machines. So, projection from one machine to another remains difficult, and a reliable determination of the region where small ELMs occur still requires a training sample from the device under consideration. (author) 53 refs

Event display of a H -> 4mu candidate event

CERN Multimedia

ATLAS, Collaboration

2012-01-01

Event display of a H -> 4mu candidate event with m(4l) = 124.1 (125.1) GeV without (with) Z mass constraint. The masses of the lepton pairs are 86.3 GeV and 31.6 GeV. The event was recorded by ATLAS on 10-Jun-2012, 13:24:31 CEST in run number 204769 as event number 71902630. Muon tracks are colored red. The inset on the right-hand side shows a zoom into the tracking detector. The inset on top shows a zoom into the vertex region, indicating that the 4 muons originate from the same primary vertex.

INTERNAL TRANSCRIBED SPACER (ITS), AN IDEAL DNA BARCODE FOR SPECIES DISCRIMINATION IN CRAWFURDIA WALL. (GENTIANACEAE).

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dequan; Jiang, Bei; Duan, Lizhen; Zhou, Nong

2016-01-01

DNA barcoding is a technique used to identify species based on species-specific differences in short regions of their DNA. It is widely used in species discrimination of medicinal plants and traditional medicines. In the present study, four potential DNA barcodes, namely rbcL , matK , trnH-psbA and ITS (nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer) were adopted for species discrimination in Crawfurdia Wall (Genetiaceae). Identification ability of these DNA barcodes and combinations were evaluated using three classic methods (Distance, Blast and Tree-Building). As a result, ITS, trnH-psbA and rbcL regions showed great universality for a success rate of 100%; whereas matK was disappointing for which only 65% samples gained useful DNA sequences. ITS region, which could clearly and effectively identify the five species in Crawfurdia , performed very well in this study. On the contrary, trnH-psbA and rbcL performed poorly in discrimination among these species. ITS marker was an ideal DNA barcode in Crawfurdia and it should be incorporated into one of the core barcodes for seed plants.

The relationship of lightning activity and short-duration rainfall events during warm seasons over the Beijing metropolitan region

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Fan; Cui, Xiaopeng; Zhang, Da-Lin; Qiao, Lin

2017-10-01

The relationship between lightning activity and rainfall associated with 2925 short-duration rainfall (SDR) events over the Beijing metropolitan region (BMR) is examined during the warm seasons of 2006-2007, using the cloud-to-ground (CG) and intracloud (IC) lightning data from Surveillance et Alerte Foudre par Interférometrie Radioélectrique (SAFIR)-3000 and 5-min rainfall data from automatic weather stations (AWSs). An optimal radius of 10 km around selected AWSs is used to determine the lightning-rainfall relationship. The lightning-rainfall correlations vary significantly, depending upon the intensity of SDR events. That is, correlation coefficient (R 0.7) for the short-duration heavy rainfall (SDHR, i.e., ≥ 20 mm h- 1) events is found higher than that (R 0.4) for the weak SDR (i.e., 5-10 mm h- 1) events, and lower percentage of the SDHR events (< 10%) than the weak SDR events (40-50%) are observed with few flashes. Significant time-lagged correlations between lightning and rainfall are also found. About 80% of the SDR events could reach their highest correlation coefficients when the associated lightning flashes shift at time lags of < 25 min before and after rainfall begins. Those events with lightning preceding rainfall account for 50-60% of the total SDR events. Better lightning-rainfall correlations can be attained when time lags are incorporated, with the use of total (CG and IC) lightning data. These results appear to have important implications for improving the nowcast of SDHR events.

Semantic Context Detection Using Audio Event Fusion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Wen-Huang

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Semantic-level content analysis is a crucial issue in achieving efficient content retrieval and management. We propose a hierarchical approach that models audio events over a time series in order to accomplish semantic context detection. Two levels of modeling, audio event and semantic context modeling, are devised to bridge the gap between physical audio features and semantic concepts. In this work, hidden Markov models (HMMs are used to model four representative audio events, that is, gunshot, explosion, engine, and car braking, in action movies. At the semantic context level, generative (ergodic hidden Markov model and discriminative (support vector machine (SVM approaches are investigated to fuse the characteristics and correlations among audio events, which provide cues for detecting gunplay and car-chasing scenes. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and provide a preliminary framework for information mining by using audio characteristics.

Development of Discrimination, Detection, and Location Capabilities in Central and Southern Asia Using Middle-Period Surface Waves Recorded by a Regional Array

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Levshin, Anatoli

1997-01-01

.... We present group velocity maps from 10 s to 40 s period for both Rayleigh and Love waves. Broadband waveform data from about 600 events from 1988 - 1995 recorded at 83 individual stations from several global and regional networks...

Regional seismic observations of the Non-Proliferation Experiment at the Livermore NTS Network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walter, W.R.; Mayeda, K.; Patton, H.J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)] [and others

1994-12-31

The Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE), a 1-kiloton chemical explosion in N-tunnel at Rainier Mesa on the Nevada Test Site (NTS), was recorded by the four station, regional seismic Livermore NTS Network, (LNN). In this study we compare the NPE`s seismic yield, frequency content, and discrimination performance with other NTS events recorded at LNN. Preliminary findings include: The NPE LNN average magnitudes are 4.16 for m{sub b}(P{sub n}) and 4.59 for m{sub b}(L{sub g}). Using published magnitude-yield relations gives nuclear equivalent yields of 2.3 and 2.2 kilotons respectively, implying enhanced coupling of chemical relative to nuclear explosions. A comparison of the NPE seismograms with those with similar magnitude N-tunnel nuclear explosions shows remarkable similarity over the frequency band 0.5 to 5.0 Hz. Outside this band the explosions show more variability, with the NPE having the least relative energy below 0.5 Hz and the most energy above 5 Hz when scaled by magnitude. Considering the variability within the N-tunnel nuclear explosions, these low- and high-frequency NPE-nuclear differences may not reflect chemical-nuclear source differences. The NPE was compared to a large number of NTS nuclear explosions and earthquakes as part of an ongoing short-period discrimination study of P{sub N}/L{sub g},P{sub g}/L{sub g}, and spectral ratios in the P{sub n}, P{sub g},L{sub g}, and coda phases. For these discriminants, the NPE looks very similar to N-tunnel nuclear explosions and other NTS nuclear explosions, implying seismic identification of contained, non-ripple-fired, chemical explosions as non-nuclear may not be possible. However, such blasts might serve as surrogate nuclear explosions when calibrating seismic discriminants in regions where nuclear testing has not occurred.

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

OpenAIRE

Ján Vravec; Radovan Baèík

2012-01-01

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

Tropospheric mid-latitude geopotential wave characteristics associated with strong wind events in the North Atlantic/European region

Science.gov (United States)

Wild, Simon; Simmonds, Ian; Leckebusch, Gregor C.

2015-04-01

The variability of strong synoptic scale wind events in the mid-latitudes have long been linked to baroclinic wave activity in the mid troposphere. Previous studies have also shown that greater amplitudes of planetary waves in the mid troposphere are likely to increase the occurrence of regional extremes in temperature and precipitation. In this study we examine whether characteristics of planetary and synoptic mid-latitude waves show systematic anomalies in the North Atlantic/ European region which can be related to the occurrence of a strong surface wind event. We will mainly focus on two questions: 1) Do amplitudes for waves with different wave lengths show a systematic anomaly when a strong wind event occurs? 2) Can phases of the individual wave components be detected that favour strong wind events? In order to decompose the mid-tropospheric flow into longitudinal waves we employ the fast Fourier transform to the meridional mean of the geopotential height in 500hPa between 35° and 60°N for i) the entire latitude belt and ii) for a North Atlantic/European sector (36°W to 36°E). Our definition of strong wind events is based on the Storm Severity Index (SSI) alongside a wind tracking algorithm identifying areas of exceedances of the local 98th percentile of the 10m wind speed. First results using ERA-Interim Reanalysis from 1979 - 2014 for the extended winter season (ONDJFM) for the 50 most intense strong wind systems with respect to the SSI reveal a greater amplitude for all investigated wave numbers. Especially waves with wave lengths below 2000km show an increase of about 25% of the daily standard deviation on average. The distribution of wave phases for the different wave numbers with respect to the location of a strong wind event shows a less homogenous picture. There is however a high proportion of events that can be associated with phases around 3π/4 and 5π/4 of waves with lengths of around 6000km, equivalent to wave number 5 on a planetary scale

Combining features from ERP components in single-trial EEG for discriminating four-category visual objects

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Changming; Xiong, Shi; Hu, Xiaoping; Yao, Li; Zhang, Jiacai

2012-10-01

Categorization of images containing visual objects can be successfully recognized using single-trial electroencephalograph (EEG) measured when subjects view images. Previous studies have shown that task-related information contained in event-related potential (ERP) components could discriminate two or three categories of object images. In this study, we investigated whether four categories of objects (human faces, buildings, cats and cars) could be mutually discriminated using single-trial EEG data. Here, the EEG waveforms acquired while subjects were viewing four categories of object images were segmented into several ERP components (P1, N1, P2a and P2b), and then Fisher linear discriminant analysis (Fisher-LDA) was used to classify EEG features extracted from ERP components. Firstly, we compared the classification results using features from single ERP components, and identified that the N1 component achieved the highest classification accuracies. Secondly, we discriminated four categories of objects using combining features from multiple ERP components, and showed that combination of ERP components improved four-category classification accuracies by utilizing the complementarity of discriminative information in ERP components. These findings confirmed that four categories of object images could be discriminated with single-trial EEG and could direct us to select effective EEG features for classifying visual objects.

Left occipitotemporal cortex contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions: fMRI and TMS evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Perini, Francesca; Caramazza, Alfonso; Peelen, Marius V

2014-01-01

Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) in both tool and hand perception but the functional role of this region is not fully known. Here, by using a task manipulation, we tested whether tool-/hand-selective LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions. Participants viewed briefly presented pictures of kitchen and garage tools while they performed one of two tasks: in the action task, they judged whether the tool is associated with a hand rotation action (e.g., screwdriver) or a hand squeeze action (e.g., garlic press), while in the location task they judged whether the tool is typically found in the kitchen (e.g., garlic press) or in the garage (e.g., screwdriver). Both tasks were performed on the same stimulus set and were matched for difficulty. Contrasting fMRI responses between these tasks showed stronger activity during the action task than the location task in both tool- and hand-selective LOTC regions, which closely overlapped. No differences were found in nearby object- and motion-selective control regions. Importantly, these findings were confirmed by a TMS study, which showed that effective TMS over the tool-/hand-selective LOTC region significantly slowed responses for tool action discriminations relative to tool location discriminations, with no such difference during sham TMS. We conclude that left LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions.

Quantum-state discrimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2002-01-01

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

Perceived discrimination: why applicants and employees expect and perceive discrimination

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abu Ghazaleh, N.

2012-01-01

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

Effects of damaging hydrogeological events on people throughout 15 years in a Mediterranean region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Aceto

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Damaging Hydrogeological Events (DHE are defined as rainy periods during which landslides and floods can damage people. The paper investigated the effects of DHE on people living in Calabria (southern Italy in the period 2000–2014, using data coming from the systematic survey of regional newspapers. Data about fatalities, people injured and people involved (not killed neither hurt were stored in the database named PEOPLE, made of three sections: (1 event identification, (2 victim-event interaction, (3 effects on people. The outcomes highlighted vulnerability factors related to gender and age: males were killed more frequently (75 % than females (25 %, and fatalities were older (average age 49 years than injured (40.1 years and involved people (40.5 years. The average ages of females killed (67.5 years, injured (43.4 years and involved (44.6 years were higher than the same values assessed for males, maybe indicating that younger females tended to be more cautious than same-age males, while older females showed an intrinsic greater vulnerability. Involved people were younger than injured people and fatalities, perhaps because younger people show greater promptness to react in dangerous situations. In the study region, floods caused more fatalities (67.9 %, injured (55 % and involved people (55.3 % than landslides. Fatalities and injuries mainly occurred outdoor, especially along roads, and the most dangerous dynamic was to be dragged by flood, causing the majority of fatalities (71.4 %. These outcomes can be used to strengthen the strategies aimed at saving people, and to customise warning campaigns according to the local risk features and people's behaviour. The results can improve the understanding of the potential impacts of geo-hydrological hazards on the population and can increase risk awareness among both administrators and citizens.

Spectral Discrimination of Vegetation Classes in Ice-Free Areas of Antarctica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Calviño-Cancela

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Detailed monitoring of vegetation changes in ice-free areas of Antarctica is crucial to determine the effects of climate warming and increasing human presence in this vulnerable ecosystem. Remote sensing techniques are especially suitable in this distant and rough environment, with high spectral and spatial resolutions needed owing to the patchiness and similarity between vegetation elements. We analyze the reflectance spectra of the most representative vegetation elements in ice-free areas of Antarctica to assess the potential for discrimination. This research is aimed as a basis for future aircraft/satellite research for long-term vegetation monitoring. The study was conducted in the Barton Peninsula, King George Island. The reflectance of ground patches of different types of vegetation or bare ground (c. 0.25 m 2 , n = 30 patches per class was recorded with a spectrophotometer measuring between 340 nm to 1025 nm at a resolution of 0.38 n m . We used Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA to classify the cover classes according to reflectance spectra, after reduction of the number of bands using Principal Component Analysis (PCA. The first five principal components explained an accumulated 99.4% of the total variance and were added to the discriminant function. The LDA classification resulted in c. 92% of cases correctly classified (a hit ratio 11.9 times greater than chance. The most important region for discrimination was the visible and near ultraviolet (UV, with the relative importance of spectral bands steeply decreasing in the Near Infra-Red (NIR region. Our study shows the feasibility of discriminating among representative taxa of Antarctic vegetation using their spectral patterns in the near UV, visible and NIR. The results are encouraging for hyperspectral vegetation mapping in Antarctica, which could greatly facilitate monitoring vegetation changes in response to a changing environment, reducing the costs and environmental impacts of

Functional discriminant method and neuronal net

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minh-Quan Tran.

1993-02-01

The ZEUS detector at the ep storage ring HERA at DESY is equipped with a 3 level trigger system. This enormous effort is necessary to fight against the high proton beamgas background that was estimated to be at the level of 100 kHz. In this thesis two methods were investigated to calculate a trigger decision from a set of various trigger parameters. The Functional Discriminant Analysis evalutes a decision parameter that is optimized by means of a linear algebra technic. A method is shown how to determine the most important trigger parameters. A 'feed forward' neuralnetwork was analyzed in order to allow none lineare cuts in the n dimensinal configuration space spanned by the trigger parameters. The error back propagation method was used to teach the neural network. It is shown that both decision methods are able to abstract the important characteristics of event samples. As soon as they are tought they will seperate events from these classes even though they were not part of the training sample. (orig.) [de

Assessment of future extreme climate events over the Porto wine Region

Science.gov (United States)

Viceto, Carolina; Cardoso, Susana; Marta-Almeida, Martinho; Gorodetskaya, Irina; Rocha, Alfredo

2017-04-01

to be produced (Porto and Douro wine), while climate variability affects the annual productivity and quality of the grape harvest. Our study investigates changes in the extreme climate events in the future model runs, through a set of climate change indicators defined by the WRCP's Expert Team in Climate Change Detection and Indices, which uses variables such as daily maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation amounts. Furthermore, we explore heat waves and their properties (duration, intensity and recovery factor). The analysis shows an increase of the mean temperature in the DDR higher than 2°C by the mid-21st century and 4.5°C by the end of the century, relatively to the reference period. Moreover, we found a major predisposition towards higher values of minimum and maximum daily temperatures and a decrease in the total precipitation during both future periods. These preliminary results indicate increased climatic stress on the DDR wine production and increased vulnerability of the wine varieties in this region.

The Badness of Discrimination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lippert-Rasmussen, Kasper

2006-01-01

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

Concentrated pitch discrimination modulates auditory brainstem responses during contralateral noise exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Ikeda, Kazunari; Sekiguchi, Takahiro; Hayashi, Akiko

2010-03-31

This study examined a notion that auditory discrimination is a requisite for attention-related modulation of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) during contralateral noise exposure. Given that the right ear was exposed continuously with white noise at an intensity of 60-80 dB sound pressure level, tone pips at 80 dB sound pressure level were delivered to the left ear through either single-stimulus or oddball procedures. Participants conducted reading (ignoring task) and counting target tones (attentive task) during stimulation. The oddball but not the single-stimulus procedures elicited task-related modulations in both early (ABR) and late (processing negativity) event-related potentials simultaneously. The elicitation of the attention-related ABR modulation during contralateral noise exposure is thus considered to require auditory discrimination and have the corticofugal nature evidently.

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herzog, Ulrike; Bergou, Janos A.

2004-01-01

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

Comparative study of neutron and gamma-ray pulse shape discrimination of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagida, Takayuki; Watanabe, Kenichi; Fujimoto, Yutaka

2015-01-01

Solid state organic scintillators, such as anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl were investigated on their basic scintillation properties and neutron–gamma discrimination capabilities. Scintillation wavelengths under X-ray irradiation of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl were 445–525, 400–500, and 350–450 nm, respectively. Scintillation light yields of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl under 137 Cs gamma-ray irradiation were 20100, 16000, and 19400 ph/MeV, respectively. Neutron and gamma-ray events discrimination capabilities were examined and anthracene exhibited the best figure of merit among three organic scintillators

Comparative study of neutron and gamma-ray pulse shape discrimination of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yanagida, Takayuki, E-mail: yanagida@lsse.kyutech.ac.jp [Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 808-0196 (Japan); Watanabe, Kenichi [Nagoya University, Furocho, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8603 (Japan); Fujimoto, Yutaka [Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 808-0196 (Japan)

2015-06-01

Solid state organic scintillators, such as anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl were investigated on their basic scintillation properties and neutron–gamma discrimination capabilities. Scintillation wavelengths under X-ray irradiation of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl were 445–525, 400–500, and 350–450 nm, respectively. Scintillation light yields of anthracene, stilbene, and p-terphenyl under {sup 137}Cs gamma-ray irradiation were 20100, 16000, and 19400 ph/MeV, respectively. Neutron and gamma-ray events discrimination capabilities were examined and anthracene exhibited the best figure of merit among three organic scintillators.

Time to address gender discrimination and inequality in the health workforce.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Constance

2014-05-06

Gender is a key factor operating in the health workforce. Recent research evidence points to systemic gender discrimination and inequalities in health pre-service and in-service education and employment systems. Human resources for health (HRH) leaders' and researchers' lack of concerted attention to these inequalities is striking, given the recognition of other forms of discrimination in international labour rights and employment law discourse. If not acted upon, gender discrimination and inequalities result in systems inefficiencies that impede the development of the robust workforces needed to respond to today's critical health care needs.This commentary makes the case that there is a clear need for sex- and age-disaggregated and qualitative data to more precisely illuminate gender-related trends and dynamics in the health workforce. Because of their importance for measurement, the paper also presents definitions and examples of sex or gender discrimination and offers specific case examples.At a broader level, the commentary argues that gender equality should be an HRH research, leadership, and governance priority, where the aim is to strengthen health pre-service and continuing professional education and employment systems to achieve better health systems outcomes, including better health coverage. Good HRH leadership, governance, and management involve recognizing the diversity of health workforces, acknowledging gender constraints and opportunities, eliminating gender discrimination and equalizing opportunity, making health systems responsive to life course events, and protecting health workers' labour rights at all levels. A number of global, national and institution-level actions are proposed to move the gender equality and HRH agendas forward.

Field Spectroscopy in the VNIR-SWIR Region to Discriminate between Mediterranean Native Plants and Exotic-Invasive Shrubs Based on Leaf Tannin Content

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Rudolf Karl Lehmann

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The invasive shrub, Acacia longifolia, native to southeastern Australia, has a negative impact on vegetation and ecosystem functioning in Portuguese dune ecosystems. In order to spectrally discriminate A. longifolia from other non-native and native species, we developed a classification model based on leaf reflectance spectra (350–2500 nm and condensed leaf tannin content. High variation of leaf tannin content is common for Mediterranean shrub and tree species, in particular between N-fixing and non-N-fixing species, as well as within the genus, Acacia. However, variation in leaf tannin content has not been studied in coastal dune ecosystems in southwest Portugal. We hypothesized that condensed tannin concentration varies significantly across species, further allowing for distinguishing invasive, nitrogen-fixing A. longifolia from other vegetation based on leaf spectral reflectance data. Spectral field measurements were carried out using an ASD FieldSpec FR spectroradiometer attached to an ASD leaf clip in order to collect 750 in situ leaf reflectance spectra of seven frequent plant species at three study sites in southwest Portugal. We applied partial least squares (PLS regression to predict the obtained leaf reflectance spectra of A. longifolia individuals to their corresponding tannin concentration. A. longifolia had the lowest tannin concentration of all investigated species. Four wavelength regions (675–710 nm, 1060–1170 nm, 1360–1450 nm and 1630–1740 nm were identified as being highly correlated with tannin concentration. A spectra-based classification model of the different plant species was calculated using a principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA. The best prediction of A. longifolia was achieved by using wavelength regions between 1360–1450 nm and 1630–1740 nm, resulting in a user’s accuracy of 98.9%. In comparison, selecting the entire wavelength range, the best user accuracy only reached 86

Wage determination and discrimination among older workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, J F

1979-09-01

In this study, the determinants of the wage rates of a large sample of individuals aged 58 to 63 are first analyzed. Second, an explanation for the large discrepancies existing between the average wage rates earned by whites and nonwhites and by men and women is attempted. Human capital and geographic variables were found to be important wage determinants. Education, vocational training, years of job tenure, health, region of residence and local cost of living were significant explanators, especially for whites. Differences in these variables, however, cannot completely explain the wage differentials that exist by race and sex. There is a large unexplained component (especially in the male-female comparison) offering evidence of race and sex discrimination among older workers. In the case of sex discrimination, much of the problem appears to be occupational segregation--the crowding of women into low paying industries and occupations.

Mass discrimination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broeckman, A. [Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht (Netherlands)

1978-12-15

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

Age Group Differences in Perceived Age Discrimination: Associations With Self-Perceptions of Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Giasson, Hannah L; Queen, Tara L; Larkina, Marina; Smith, Jacqui

2017-08-01

From midlife onwards, age stereotypes increasingly underlie social judgments and contribute to age-based discrimination. Whereas many studies compare differences between young and older adults in reports of age discrimination or sensitivity to age stereotypes, few consider age group differences among adults over 50. We form subgroups corresponding to social age group membership (early midlife, late midlife, young old, oldest old) and examine differences in reported experiences of everyday age discrimination and associations with self-perceptions of aging. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS: N = 15,071; M Age = 68, range 50-101), multivariate logistic regression was used to examine experiences of everyday discrimination attributed to age, and associations between age discrimination and self-perceptions of aging, in four age groups: early midlife, late midlife, young old, oldest old. People in the early midlife group (aged 50-59) reported more experiences of unfair treatment than the older age groups but were less likely to attribute their experiences to age discrimination. After controlling for covariates, individuals in all age groups who perceived their own aging positively were less likely to report experiences of age discrimination. The magnitude of this effect, however, was greatest in the early midlife group. Findings support proposals that midlife is a pivotal life period when individuals adjust to life events and social role transitions. Future longitudinal studies will provide further insight into whether positive self-perceptions of aging are especially important in this phase of the life course. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Near threshold pulse shape discrimination techniques in scintillating CsI(Tl) crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, S.C.; Yue, Q.; Lai, W.P.; Li, H.B.; Li, J.; Lin, S.T.; Liu, Y.; Singh, V.; Wang, M.Z.; Wong, H.T.; Xin, B.; Zhou, Z.Y.

2004-01-01

There are recent interests with CsI(Tl) scintillating crystals for Dark Matter experiments. The key merit is the capability to differentiate nuclear recoil (nr) signatures from the background β/γ-events due to ambient radioactivity on the basis of their different pulse shapes. One of the major experimental challenges is to perform such pulse shape analysis in the statistics-limited domain where the light output is close to the detection threshold. Using data derived from measurements with low-energy γ's and nuclear recoils due to neutron elastic scatterings, it was verified that the pulse shapes between β/γ-events are different. Several methods of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) are studied, and their relative merits are compared. Full digitization of the pulse shapes is crucial to achieve good discrimination. Advanced software techniques with mean time, neural network and likelihood ratios give rise to satisfactory performance, and are superior to the conventional Double Charge method commonly applied at higher energies. PSD becomes effective starting at a light yield of about 20 photo-electrons. This corresponds to a detection threshold of about 5 keV electron-equivalence energy, or 40-50 keV recoil kinetic energy, in realistic experiments

Neuronal discrimination capacity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2003-01-01

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

Neuronal discrimination capacity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

2003-12-19

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

Mortality, recovery, and community shifts of scleractinian corals in Puerto Rico one decade after the 2005 regional bleaching event.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Sais, Jorge R; Williams, Stacey M; Amirrezvani, Ali

2017-01-01

This work analyzes the mortality, recovery, and shifts in the composition of scleractinian corals from Puerto Rico one decade after the 2005 regional coral bleaching event. Temporal and spatial patterns of coral community structure were examined using a stratified, non-random sampling approach based on five permanent transects per reef at 16 reef stations. A negative correlation between percent coral cover loss and light attenuation coefficient (Kd 490 ) was observed, suggesting that light attenuation, as influenced by water turbidity and depth, played a major role in coral protection during the bleaching event ("sunblock effect"). Responses of coral assemblages varied after the bleaching event, including shifts of cover from massive corals ( Orbicella spp.) to opportunistic ( Porites astreoides ) and branching corals ( Madracis auretenra , P. porites ) and/or turf algae; partial recovery of reef substrate cover by O. annularis complex; and no measurable changes in coral assemblages before and after the event.

REFINEMENT OF THE NEPHELINE DISCRIMINATOR: RESULTS OF A PHASE II STUDY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fox, K; Tommy Edwards, T

2008-11-21

Twenty five glass compositions were selected for a Phase II study to assess the potential for reducing the conservatism in the nepheline discriminator. The glass compositions were restricted to regions that fell within the validation ranges of the DWPF PCCS models. In addition, the liquidus temperature model was used to restrict the glass compositions so that they could all be melted at the same temperature. The nepheline discriminator was used to force the glass compositions into regions where nepheline formation was predicted to occur. The glasses were fabricated in the laboratory and characterized for crystallization and chemical durability after both quenching and slow cooling. Chemical analysis showed that the fabricated glasses met the target compositions. Nepheline was identified in one of the quenched glasses and several of the CCC glasses. There was no clear relationship between the types of crystallization that occurred in a particular glass and its location on the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}-Na{sub 2}O-SiO{sub 2} ternary diagram. A partitioning algorithm was used to identify trends in crystallization behavior based on glass composition. Generally, for the CCC glasses MnO influenced the crystallization of spinels and B{sub 2}O{sub 3} and SiO{sub 2} influenced the crystallization of nepheline. Measured durability responses varied from acceptable to unacceptable depending on the glass composition and type and extent of crystallization that occurred. It was not possible to identify any linear effects of composition on chemical durability performance for this set of study glasses. The results were not sufficient to recommend modification of the current nepheline discriminator at this time. It is recommended that the next series of experiments continue to focus not only on compositional regions where the PCCS models are considered applicable (i.e., the model validation ranges), but also be restricted to compositional regions where acceptable glasses are predicted to be

Workplace discrimination: experiences of practicing physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Coombs, Alice A Tolbert; King, Roderick K

2005-04-01

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

Global and Regional 3D Tomography for Improved Seismic Event Location and Uncertainty in Explosion Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Downey, N.; Begnaud, M. L.; Hipp, J. R.; Ballard, S.; Young, C. S.; Encarnacao, A. V.

2017-12-01

The SALSA3D global 3D velocity model of the Earth was developed to improve the accuracy and precision of seismic travel time predictions for a wide suite of regional and teleseismic phases. Recently, the global SALSA3D model was updated to include additional body wave phases including mantle phases, core phases, reflections off the core-mantle boundary and underside reflections off the surface of the Earth. We show that this update improves travel time predictions and leads directly to significant improvements in the accuracy and precision of seismic event locations as compared to locations computed using standard 1D velocity models like ak135, or 2½D models like RSTT. A key feature of our inversions is that path-specific model uncertainty of travel time predictions are calculated using the full 3D model covariance matrix computed during tomography, which results in more realistic uncertainty ellipses that directly reflect tomographic data coverage. Application of this method can also be done at a regional scale: we present a velocity model with uncertainty obtained using data obtained from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations. These results show a reduction in travel-time residuals for re-located events compared with those obtained using previously published models.

α-Oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor network influence discrimination performance by rhythmical inhibition of neuronal spiking.

Science.gov (United States)

Haegens, Saskia; Nácher, Verónica; Luna, Rogelio; Romo, Ranulfo; Jensen, Ole

2011-11-29

Extensive work in humans using magneto- and electroencephalography strongly suggests that decreased oscillatory α-activity (8-14 Hz) facilitates processing in a given region, whereas increased α-activity serves to actively suppress irrelevant or interfering processing. However, little work has been done to understand how α-activity is linked to neuronal firing. Here, we simultaneously recorded local field potentials and spikes from somatosensory, premotor, and motor regions while a trained monkey performed a vibrotactile discrimination task. In the local field potentials we observed strong activity in the α-band, which decreased in the sensorimotor regions during the discrimination task. This α-power decrease predicted better discrimination performance. Furthermore, the α-oscillations demonstrated a rhythmic relation with the spiking, such that firing was highest at the trough of the α-cycle. Firing rates increased with a decrease in α-power. These findings suggest that α-oscillations exercise a strong inhibitory influence on both spike timing and firing rate. Thus, the pulsed inhibition by α-oscillations plays an important functional role in the extended sensorimotor system.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-06-01

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

Reprint of "A proposed cell model for multiple-occurrence regional landslide events: Implications for landslide susceptibility mapping"

Science.gov (United States)

Crozier, M. J.

2018-04-01

Multiple-occurrence regional landslide events (MORLEs) consist of hundreds to thousands of shallow landslides occurring more or less simultaneously within defined areas, ranging from tens to thousands of square kilometres. While MORLEs can be triggered by rainstorms and earthquakes, this paper is confined to those landslide events triggered by rainstorms. Globally, MORLEs occur in a range of geological settings in areas of moderate to steep slopes subject to intense rainstorms. Individual landslides in rainstorm-triggered events are dominantly small, shallow debris and earth flows, and debris and earth slides involving regolith or weathered bedrock. The model used to characterise these events assumes that energy distribution within the event area is represented on the land surface by a cell structure; with maximum energy expenditure within an identifiable core and rapid dissipation concentrically away from the centre. The version of the model presented here has been developed for rainfall-triggered landslide events. It proposes that rainfall intensity can be used to determine different critical landslide response zones within the cell (referred to as core, middle, and periphery zones). These zones are most readily distinguished by two conditions: the proportion of the slope that fails and the particular type of the slope stability factor that assumes dominance in determining specific sites of landslide occurrence. The latter condition means that the power of any slope stability factor to distinguish between stable and unstable sites varies throughout the affected area in accordance with the landslide response zones within the cell; certain factors critical for determining the location of landslide sites in one part of the event area have little influence in other parts of the event area. The implication is that landslide susceptibility maps (and subsequently derived mitigation measures) based on conventional slope stability factors may have only limited validity

Regional decision-makers as potential users of Extreme Weather Event Attribution - Case studies from the German Baltic Sea coast and the Greater Paris area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Schwab

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Extreme Event Attribution has raised increasing attention in climate science in the last years. It means to judge the extent to which certain weather-related extreme events have changed due to human influences on climate with probabilistic statements. Extreme Event Attribution is often anticipated to spur more than just scientific ambition. It is able to provide answers to a commonly asked questions after extreme events, namely, ‘can we blame it on climate change’ and is assumed to support decision-making of various actors engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation. More in-depth research is widely lacking about who these actors are; in which context they can make use of it; and what requirements they have, to be able to actually apply Extreme Event Attribution. We have therefore addressed these questions with two empirical case studies looking at regional decision-makers who deal with storm surge risks in the German Baltic Sea region and heat waves in the Greater Paris area. Stakeholder interviews and workshops reveal that fields of application and requirements are diverse, difficult to explicitly identify, and often clearly associated with stakeholders' specific mandate, the hazard background, and the regional socio-economic setting. Among the considered stakeholders in the Baltic Sea region, Extreme Event Attribution is perceived to be most useful to awareness-raising, in particular for climate change mitigation. They emphasised the importance of receiving understandable information - and that, rather later, but with smaller uncertainties than faster, but with higher uncertainties. In the Paris case, we typically talked to people engaged in adaptation with expertise in terms of climate science, but narrowly defined mandates which is typical for the Paris-centred political system with highly specialised public experts. The interviewees claimed that Extreme Event Attribution is most useful to political leverage and public

Perceived weight discrimination and obesity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelina R Sutin

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

Low power constant fraction discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2001-01-01

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

Odor Discrimination in Drosophila: From Neural Population Codes to Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Parnas, Moshe; Lin, Andrew C.; Huetteroth, Wolf; Miesenböck, Gero

2013-01-01

Summary Taking advantage of the well-characterized olfactory system of Drosophila, we derive a simple quantitative relationship between patterns of odorant receptor activation, the resulting internal representations of odors, and odor discrimination. Second-order excitatory and inhibitory projection neurons (ePNs and iPNs) convey olfactory information to the lateral horn, a brain region implicated in innate odor-driven behaviors. We show that the distance between ePN activity patterns is the main determinant of a fly’s spontaneous discrimination behavior. Manipulations that silence subsets of ePNs have graded behavioral consequences, and effect sizes are predicted by changes in ePN distances. ePN distances predict only innate, not learned, behavior because the latter engages the mushroom body, which enables differentiated responses to even very similar odors. Inhibition from iPNs, which scales with olfactory stimulus strength, enhances innate discrimination of closely related odors, by imposing a high-pass filter on transmitter release from ePN terminals that increases the distance between odor representations. PMID:24012006

Left occipitotemporal cortex contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions: fMRI and TMS evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca ePerini

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC in both tool and hand perception but the functional role of this region is not fully known. Here, by using a task manipulation, we tested whether tool-/hand-selective LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions. Participants viewed briefly presented pictures of kitchen and garage tools while they performed one of two tasks: in the action task, they judged whether the tool is associated with a hand rotation action (e.g., screwdriver or a hand squeeze action (e.g., garlic press, while in the location task they judged whether the tool is typically found in the kitchen (e.g., garlic press or in the garage (e.g., screwdriver. Both tasks were performed on the same stimulus set and were matched for difficulty. Contrasting fMRI responses between these tasks showed stronger activity during the action task than the location task in both tool- and hand-selective LOTC regions, which closely overlapped. No differences were found in nearby object- and motion-selective control regions. Importantly, these findings were confirmed by a TMS study, which showed that effective TMS over the tool-/hand-selective LOTC region significantly slowed responses for tool action discriminations relative to tool location discriminations, with no such difference during sham TMS. We conclude that left LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions.

Simulations of a November thunderstorm event by two mesoscale models in the south Alpine region

OpenAIRE

Borroni, A.

2005-01-01

Abstract: Two numerical models have been used to investigate the development of a thunderstorm event that took place on November 7th , 2004, in the northern Italy. A cold air mass moved from the northeast to the Alps and the Po valley, while the temperature in the lower layers was quite warm. A thunderstorm with rain and hail developed in the central and eastern part of Italy's subalpine region. In this work it's analyzed some aspects of the thunderstorm dynamics at the mesoscale using two di...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2003-03-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-06-01

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

DISCRIMINATION BY ASSOCIATION IN EUROPEAN LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuș

2013-11-01

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

Low level alpha activity measurements with pulse shape discrimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satoh, Kaneaki; Higuchi, Hideo; Kitamura, Kiyoshi; Noguchi, Masayasu.

1984-01-01

Liquid scintillation counting of α rays with pulse shape discrimination was applied to the analysis of 226 Ra and 239+240 Pu in environmental samples and of α-emitters in/on a filter paper. The instrument used in this study was either a specially designed detector or a commercial liquid scintillation counter with an automatic sample changer, both of which were connected to the pulse shape discrimination circuit. The background counting rate in α energy region of 5-7 MeV was 0.01 or 0.04 cpm/MeV, respectively. The figure of merit indicating the resolving power for α- and β-particles in time spectrum was found to be 5.7 for the commercial liquid scintillation counter. (author)

Measurement of the ratio Γbb/Γhad using event shape variables

Science.gov (United States)

Buskulic, D.; de Bonis, I.; Decamp, D.; Ghez, P.; Goy, C.; Lees, J.-P.; Minard, M.-N.; Pietrzyk, B.; Ariztizabal, F.; Comas, P.; Crespo, J. M.; Delfino, M.; Efthymiopoulos, I.; Fernandez, E.; Fernandez-Bosman, M.; Gaitan, V.; Garrido, Ll.; Mattison, T.; Pacheco, A.; Padilla, C.; Pascual, A.; Creanza, D.; de Palma, M.; Farilla, A.; Iaselli, G.; Maggi, G.; Natali, S.; Nuzzo, S.; Quattromini, M.; Ranieri, A.; Raso, G.; Romano, F.; Ruggieri, F.; Selvaggi, G.; Silvestris, L.; Tempesta, P.; Zito, G.; Chai, Y.; Hu, H.; Huang, D.; Huang, X.; Lin, J.; Wang, T.; Xie, Y.; Xie, D.; Xu, D.; Xu, R.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Zhao, W.; Blucher, E.; Bonvicini, G.; Boudreau, J.; Casper, D.; Drevermann, H.; Forty, R. W.; Ganis, G.; Gay, C.; Hagelberg, R.; Harvey, J.; Hilgart, J.; Jacobsen, R.; Jost, B.; Knobloch, J.; Lehraus, I.; Lohse, T.; Maggi, M.; Markou, C.; Martinez, M.; Mato, P.; Meinhard, H.; Minten, A.; Miotto, A.; Miquel, R.; Moser, H.-G.; Palazzi, P.; Pater, J. R.; Perlas, J. A.; Pusztaszeri, J.-F.; Ranjard, F.; Redlinger, G.; Rolandi, L.; Rothberg, J.; Ruan, T.; Saich, M.; Schlatter, D.; Schmelling, M.; Sefkow, F.; Tejessy, W.; Tomalin, I. R.; Veenhof, R.; Wachsmuth, H.; Wasserbaech, S.; Wiedenmann, W.; Wildish, T.; Witzeling, W.; Wotschack, J.; Ajaltouni, Z.; Badaud, F.; Bardadin-Otwinowska, M.; El Fellous, R.; Falvard, A.; Gay, P.; Guicheney, C.; Henrard, P.; Jousset, J.; Michel, B.; Montret, J.-C.; Pallin, D.; Perret, P.; Podlyski, F.; Proriol, J.; Prulhière, F.; Saadi, F.; Fearnley, T.; Hansen, J. B.; Hansen, J. D.; Hansen, J. R.; Hansen, P. H.; Møllerud, R.; Nilsson, B. S.; Kyriakis, A.; Simopoulou, E.; Siotis, I.; Vayaki, A.; Zachariadou, K.; Badier, J.; Blondel, A.; Bonneaud, G.; Brient, J. C.; Fouque, G.; Orteu, S.; Rougé, A.; Rumpf, M.; Tanaka, R.; Verderi, M.; Videau, H.; Candlin, D. J.; Parsons, M. I.; Veitch, E.; Focardi, E.; Moneta, L.; Parrini, G.; Corden, M.; Georgiopoulos, C.; Ikeda, M.; Levinthal, D.; Antonelli, A.; Baldini, R.; Bencivenni, G.; Bologna, G.; Bossi, F.; Campana, P.; Capon, G.; Cerutti, F.; Chiarella, V.; D'Ettorre-Piazzoli, B.; Felici, G.; Laurelli, P.; Mannocchi, G.; Murtas, F.; Murtas, G. P.; Passalacqua, L.; Pepe-Altarelli, M.; Picchi, P.; Colrain, P.; Ten Have, I.; Lynch, J. G.; Maitland, W.; Morton, W. T.; Raine, C.; Reeves, P.; Scarr, J. M.; Smith, K.; Smith, M. G.; Thompson, A. S.; Turnbull, R. M.; Brandl, B.; Braun, O.; Geweniger, C.; Hanke, P.; Hepp, V.; Kluge, E. E.; Maumary, Y.; Putzer, A.; Rensch, B.; Stahl, A.; Tittel, K.; Wunsch, M.; Beuselinck, R.; Binnie, D. M.; Cameron, W.; Cattaneo, M.; Colling, D. J.; Dornan, P. J.; Greene, A. M.; Hassard, J. F.; Lieske, N. M.; Moutoussi, A.; Nash, J.; Patton, S.; Payne, D. G.; Phillips, M. J.; San Martin, G.; Sedgbeer, J. K.; Wright, A. G.; Girtler, P.; Kuhn, D.; Rudolph, G.; Vogl, R.; Bowdery, C. K.; Brodbeck, T. J.; Finch, A. J.; Foster, F.; Hughes, G.; Jackson, D.; Keemer, N. R.; Nuttall, M.; Patel, A.; Sloan, T.; Snow, S. W.; Whelan, E. P.; Kleinknecht, K.; Raab, J.; Renk, B.; Sander, H.-G.; Schmidt, H.; Steeg, F.; Walther, S. M.; Wanke, R.; Wolf, B.; Bencheikh, A. M.; Benchouk, C.; Bonissent, A.; Carr, J.; Coyle, P.; Drinkard, J.; Etienne, F.; Nicod, D.; Papalexiou, S.; Payre, P.; Roos, L.; Rousseau, D.; Schwemling, P.; Talby, M.; Adlung, S.; Assmann, R.; Bauer, C.; Blum, W.; Brown, D.; Cattaneo, P.; Dehning, B.; Dietl, H.; Dydak, F.; Frank, M.; Halley, A. W.; Jakobs, K.; Lauber, J.; Lütjens, G.; Lutz, G.; Männer, W.; Richter, R.; Schröder, J.; Schwarz, A. S.; Settles, R.; Seywerd, H.; Stierlin, U.; Stiegler, U.; St. Denis, R.; Wolf, G.; Alemany, R.; Boucrot, J.; Callot, O.; Cordier, A.; Davier, M.; Duflot, L.; Grivaz, J.-F.; Heusse, Ph.; Jaffe, D. E.; Janot, P.; Kim, D. W.; Le Diberder, F.; Lefrançois, J.; Lutz, A.-M.; Schune, M.-H.; Veillet, J.-J.; Videau, I.; Zhang, Z.; Abbaneo, D.; Bagliesi, G.; Batignani, G.; Bottigli, U.; Bozzi, C.; Calderini, G.; Carpinelli, M.; Ciocci, M. A.; dell'Orso, R.; Ferrante, I.; Fidecaro, F.; Foà, L.; Forti, F.; Giassi, A.; Giorgi, M. A.; Gregorio, A.; Ligabue, F.; Lusiani, A.; Mannelli, E. B.; Marrocchesi, P. S.; Messineo, A.; Palla, F.; Rizzo, G.; Sanguinetti, G.; Spagnolo, P.; Steinberger, J.; Tenchini, R.; Tonelli, G.; Triggiani, G.; Vannini, C.; Venturi, A.; Verdini, P. G.; Walsh, J.; Betteridge, A. P.; Gao, Y.; Green, M. G.; March, P. V.; Mir, Ll. M.; Medcalf, T.; Quazi, I. S.; Strong, J. A.; West, L. R.; Botterill, D. R.; Clifft, R. W.; Edgecock, T. R.; Haywood, S.; Norton, P. R.; Thompson, J. C.; Bloch-Devaux, B.; Colas, P.; Duarte, H.; Emery, S.; Kozanecki, W.; Lançon, E.; Lemaire, M. C.; Locci, E.; Marx, B.; Perez, P.; Rander, J.; Renardy, J.-F.; Rosowsky, A.; Roussarie, A.; Schuller, J.-P.; Schwindling, J.; Si Mohand, D.; Vallage, B.; Johnson, R. P.; Litke, A. M.; Taylor, G.; Wear, J.; Ashman, J. G.; Babbage, W.; Booth, C. N.; Buttar, C.; Cartwright, S.; Combley, F.; Dawson, I.; Thompson, L. F.; Barberio, E.; Böhrer, A.; Brandt, S.; Cowan, G.; Grupen, C.; Lutters, G.; Rivera, F.; Schäfer, U.; Smolik, L.; Bosisio, L.; della Marina, R.; Giannini, G.; Gobbo, B.; Ragusa, F.; Bellantoni, L.; Chen, W.; Conway, J. S.; Feng, Z.; Ferguson, D. P. S.; Gao, Y. S.; Grahl, J.; Harton, J. L.; Hayes, O. J.; Nachtman, J. M.; Pan, Y. B.; Saadi, Y.; Schmitt, M.; Scott, I.; Sharma, V.; Shi, Z. H.; Turk, J. D.; Walsh, A. M.; Weber, F. V.; Lan Wu, Sau; Wu, X.; Zheng, M.; Zobernig, G.

1993-09-01

The branching fraction of Z --> bb relative to all hadronic decays of the Z has been measured using event shape variables to preferentially select Z --> bb events. The method chosen applies a combination of shape discriminators and the selection of high transverse momentum leptons to event hemispheres. From a sample of 440 000 hadronic Z decays collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP, the ration Γbb/Γhad = 0.228+/-0.005(stat.)+/-0.005(syst.) is measured. Supported by the US Department of Energy, contract DE-AC02-76ER00881.

Event display of a H -> 4e candidate event

CERN Multimedia

ATLAS, Collaboration

2012-01-01

Event display of a H -> 4e candidate event with m(4l) = 124.5 (124.6) GeV without (with) Z mass constraint. The masses of the lepton pairs are 70.6 GeV and 44.7 GeV. The event was recorded by ATLAS on 18-May-2012, 20:28:11 CEST in run number 203602 as event number 82614360. The tracks and clusters of the two electron pairs are colored red and blue, respectively. The three displays on the right-hand side show the r-phi view of the event (top), a zoom into the vertex region, indicating that the 4 electrons originate from the same primary vertex (middle), and a Lego plot indicating the amount of transverse energy Et measured in the calorimeters (bottom).

TRANSITION REGION AND CHROMOSPHERIC SIGNATURES OF IMPULSIVE HEATING EVENTS. I. OBSERVATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warren, Harry P. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Reep, Jeffrey W. [National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Crump, Nicholas A. [Naval Center for Space Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Simões, Paulo J. A. [SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom)

2016-09-20

We exploit the high spatial resolution and high cadence of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph ( IRIS ) to investigate the response of the transition region and chromosphere to energy deposition during a small flare. Simultaneous observations from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager provide constraints on the energetic electrons precipitating into the flare footpoints, while observations of the X-Ray Telescope , Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, and Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) allow us to measure the temperatures and emission measures from the resulting flare loops. We find clear evidence for heating over an extended period on the spatial scale of a single IRIS pixel. During the impulsive phase of this event, the intensities in each pixel for the Si iv 1402.770 Å, C ii 1334.535 Å, Mg ii 2796.354 Å, and O i 1355.598 Å emission lines are characterized by numerous small-scale bursts typically lasting 60 s or less. Redshifts are observed in Si iv, C ii, and Mg ii during the impulsive phase. Mg ii shows redshifts during the bursts and stationary emission at other times. The Si iv and C ii profiles, in contrast, are observed to be redshifted at all times during the impulsive phase. These persistent redshifts are a challenge for one-dimensional hydrodynamic models, which predict only short-duration downflows in response to impulsive heating. We conjecture that energy is being released on many small-scale filaments with a power-law distribution of heating rates.

Discriminating between brain rest and attention states using fMRI connectivity graphs and subtree SVM

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, Fatemeh; Bakhtiari, Shahab K.; Hossein-Zadeh, Gholam Ali; Soltanian-Zadeh, Hamid

2012-02-01

Decoding techniques have opened new windows to explore the brain function and information encoding in brain activity. In the current study, we design a recursive support vector machine which is enriched by a subtree graph kernel. We apply the classifier to discriminate between attentional cueing task and resting state from a block design fMRI dataset. The classifier is trained using weighted fMRI graphs constructed from activated regions during the two mentioned states. The proposed method leads to classification accuracy of 1. It is also able to elicit discriminative regions and connectivities between the two states using a backward edge elimination algorithm. This algorithm shows the importance of regions including cerebellum, insula, left middle superior frontal gyrus, post cingulate cortex, and connectivities between them to enhance the correct classification rate.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-01-01

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

The relationship of lightning activity and short-duation rainfall events during warm seasons over the Beijing metropolitan region

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, F.; Cui, X.; Zhang, D. L.; Lin, Q.

2017-12-01

The relationship between lightning activity and rainfall associated with 2925 short-duration rainfall (SDR) events over the Beijing metropolitan region (BMR) is examined during the warm seasons of 2006-2007, using the cloud-to-ground (CG) and intracloud (IC) lightning data from Surveillance et Alerte Foudre par Interférometrie Radioélectrique (SAFIR)-3000 and 5-min rainfall data from automatic weather stations (AWSs). To facilitate the analysis of the rainfall-lightning correlations, the SDR events are categorized into six different intensity grades according to their hourly rainfall rates (HRRs), and an optimal radius of 10 km from individual AWSs for counting their associated lightning flashes is used. Results show that the lightning-rainfall correlations vary significantly with different intensity grades. Weak correlations (R 0.4) are found in the weak SDR events, and 40-50% of the events are no-flash ones. And moderate correlation (R 0.6) are found in the moderate SDR events, and > 10-20% of the events are no-flash ones. In contrast, high correlations (R 0.7) are obtained in the SDHR events, and < 10% of the events are no-flash ones. The results indicate that lightning activity is observed more frequently and correlated more robust with the rainfall in the SDHR events. Significant time lagged correlations between lightning and rainfall are also found. About 80% of the SDR events could reach their highest correlation coefficients when the associated lightning flashes shift at time lags of < 25 min before and after rainfall begins. The percentages of SDR events with CG or total lightning activity preceding, lagging or coinciding with rainfall shows that (i) in about 55% of the SDR events lightning flashes preceded rainfall; (ii) the SDR events with lightning flashes lagging behind rainfall accounted for about 30%; and (iii) the SDR events without any time shifts accounted for the remaining 15%. Better lightning-rainfall correlations can be attained when time

Mortality, recovery, and community shifts of scleractinian corals in Puerto Rico one decade after the 2005 regional bleaching event

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge R. García-Sais

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This work analyzes the mortality, recovery, and shifts in the composition of scleractinian corals from Puerto Rico one decade after the 2005 regional coral bleaching event. Temporal and spatial patterns of coral community structure were examined using a stratified, non-random sampling approach based on five permanent transects per reef at 16 reef stations. A negative correlation between percent coral cover loss and light attenuation coefficient (Kd490 was observed, suggesting that light attenuation, as influenced by water turbidity and depth, played a major role in coral protection during the bleaching event (“sunblock effect”. Responses of coral assemblages varied after the bleaching event, including shifts of cover from massive corals (Orbicella spp. to opportunistic (Porites astreoides and branching corals (Madracis auretenra, P. porites and/or turf algae; partial recovery of reef substrate cover by O. annularis complex; and no measurable changes in coral assemblages before and after the event.

Introduction to integral discriminants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morozov, A.; Shakirov, Sh.

2009-01-01

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

On causality of extreme events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Massimiliano Zanin

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Multiple metrics have been developed to detect causality relations between data describing the elements constituting complex systems, all of them considering their evolution through time. Here we propose a metric able to detect causality within static data sets, by analysing how extreme events in one element correspond to the appearance of extreme events in a second one. The metric is able to detect non-linear causalities; to analyse both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets; and to discriminate between real causalities and correlations caused by confounding factors. We validate the metric through synthetic data, dynamical and chaotic systems, and data representing the human brain activity in a cognitive task. We further show how the proposed metric is able to outperform classical causality metrics, provided non-linear relationships are present and large enough data sets are available.

Quantifying explainable discrimination and removing illegal discrimination in automated decision making

KAUST Repository

Kamiran, Faisal; Žliobaite, Indre; Calders, Toon

2012-01-01

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

Towards a Systematic Search for Triggered Seismic Events in the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, V.; Chao, K.; Van der Lee, S.

2017-12-01

Dynamic triggering of small earthquakes and tectonic tremor by small stress variations associated with passing surface waves from large-magnitude teleseismic earthquakes have been observed in seismically active regions in the western US. Local stress variations as small as 5 10 kPa can suffice to advance slip on local faults. Observations of such triggered events share certain distinct characteristics. With an eye towards an eventual application of machine learning, we began a systematic search for dynamically triggered seismic events in the USA that have these characteristics. Such a systematic survey has the potential to help us to better understand the fundamental process of dynamic triggering and hazards implied by it. Using visual inspection on top of timing and frequency based selection criteria for these seismic phenomena, our search yielded numerous false positives, indicating the challenge posed by moving from ad-hoc observations of dynamic triggering to a systematic search that also includes a catalog of non-triggering, even when sufficient stress variations are supplied. Our search includes a dozen large earthquakes that occurred during the tenure of USArray. One of these earthquakes (11 April 2012 Mw8.6 Sumatra), for example, was observed by USArray-TA stations in the Midwest and other station networks (such as PB and UW), and yielded candidate-triggered events at 413 stations. We kept 79 of these observations after closer visual inspection of the observed events suggested distinct P and S arrivals from a local earthquake, or a tremor modulation with the same period as the surface wave, among other criteria. We confirmed triggered seismic events in 63 stations along the western plate boundary where triggered events have previously been observed. We also newly found triggered tremor sources in eastern Oregon and Yellowstone, and candidate-triggered earthquake sources in New Mexico and Minnesota. Learning whether 14 of remaining candidates are confirmed

JUSTIFICATION FOR INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION IN EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuş

2014-11-01

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

JUSTIFICATION FOR INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION IN EU

OpenAIRE

Cătălina-Adriana Ivănuş

2014-01-01

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

Estimation of full moment tensors, including uncertainties, for earthquakes, volcanic events, and nuclear explosions

Science.gov (United States)

Alvizuri, Celso R.

rather the confidence, is then given by the 'confidence curve' P( V), where P(V) is the probability that the true moment tensor for the event lies within the neighborhood of M that has fractional volume V. The area under the confidence curve provides a single, abbreviated 'confidence parameter' for M0. We apply the method to data from events in different regions and tectonic settings: 63 small (M w 4) earthquakes in the southern Alaska subduction zone, and 12 earthquakes and 17 nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site. Characterization of moment tensor uncertainties puts us in better position to discriminate among moment tensor source types and to assign physical processes to the events.

Visual discrimination training improves Humphrey perimetry in chronic cortically induced blindness.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavanaugh, Matthew R; Huxlin, Krystel R

2017-05-09

To assess if visual discrimination training improves performance on visual perimetry tests in chronic stroke patients with visual cortex involvement. 24-2 and 10-2 Humphrey visual fields were analyzed for 17 chronic cortically blind stroke patients prior to and following visual discrimination training, as well as in 5 untrained, cortically blind controls. Trained patients practiced direction discrimination, orientation discrimination, or both, at nonoverlapping, blind field locations. All pretraining and posttraining discrimination performance and Humphrey fields were collected with online eye tracking, ensuring gaze-contingent stimulus presentation. Trained patients recovered ∼108 degrees 2 of vision on average, while untrained patients spontaneously improved over an area of ∼16 degrees 2 . Improvement was not affected by patient age, time since lesion, size of initial deficit, or training type, but was proportional to the amount of training performed. Untrained patients counterbalanced their improvements with worsening of sensitivity over ∼9 degrees 2 of their visual field. Worsening was minimal in trained patients. Finally, although discrimination performance improved at all trained locations, changes in Humphrey sensitivity occurred both within trained regions and beyond, extending over a larger area along the blind field border. In adults with chronic cortical visual impairment, the blind field border appears to have enhanced plastic potential, which can be recruited by gaze-controlled visual discrimination training to expand the visible field. Our findings underscore a critical need for future studies to measure the effects of vision restoration approaches on perimetry in larger cohorts of patients. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

Discriminant analysis of functional optical topography for schizophrenia diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Chuang, Ching-Cheng; Nakagome, Kazuyuki; Pu, Shenghong; Lan, Tsuo-Hung; Lee, Chia-Yen; Sun, Chia-Wei

2014-01-01

Abnormal prefrontal function plays a central role in the cognition deficits of schizophrenic patients; however, the character of the relationship between discriminant analysis and prefrontal activation remains undetermined. Recently, evidence of low prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation in individuals with schizophrenia has also been found during verbal fluency tests (VFT) and other cognitive tests with several neuroimaging methods. The purpose of this study is to assess the hemodynamic changes of the PFC and discriminant analysis between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls during VFT task by utilizing functional optical topography. A total of 99 subjects including 53 schizophrenic patients and 46 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were studied. The results showed that the healthy group had larger activation in the right and left PFC than in the middle PFC. Besides, the schizophrenic group showed weaker task performance and lower activation in the whole PFC than the healthy group. The result of the discriminant analysis showed a significant difference with P value <0.001 in six channels (CH 23, 29, 31, 40, 42, 52) between the schizophrenic and healthy groups. Finally, 68.69% and 71.72% of subjects are correctly classified as being schizophrenic or healthy with all 52 channels and six significantly different channels, respectively. Our findings suggest that the left PFC can be a feature region for discriminant analysis of schizophrenic diagnosis.

Discrimination of Dynamic Tactile Contact by Temporally Precise Event Sensing in Spiking Neuromorphic Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Wang Wei; Kukreja, Sunil L; Thakor, Nitish V

2017-01-01

This paper presents a neuromorphic tactile encoding methodology that utilizes a temporally precise event-based representation of sensory signals. We introduce a novel concept where touch signals are characterized as patterns of millisecond precise binary events to denote pressure changes. This approach is amenable to a sparse signal representation and enables the extraction of relevant features from thousands of sensing elements with sub-millisecond temporal precision. We also proposed measures adopted from computational neuroscience to study the information content within the spiking representations of artificial tactile signals. Implemented on a state-of-the-art 4096 element tactile sensor array with 5.2 kHz sampling frequency, we demonstrate the classification of transient impact events while utilizing 20 times less communication bandwidth compared to frame based representations. Spiking sensor responses to a large library of contact conditions were also synthesized using finite element simulations, illustrating an 8-fold improvement in information content and a 4-fold reduction in classification latency when millisecond-precise temporal structures are available. Our research represents a significant advance, demonstrating that a neuromorphic spatiotemporal representation of touch is well suited to rapid identification of critical contact events, making it suitable for dynamic tactile sensing in robotic and prosthetic applications.

Real-time detection and discrimination of visual perception using electrocorticographic signals

Science.gov (United States)

Kapeller, C.; Ogawa, H.; Schalk, G.; Kunii, N.; Coon, W. G.; Scharinger, J.; Guger, C.; Kamada, K.

2018-06-01

Objective. Several neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the ventral temporal cortex contains specialized regions that process visual stimuli. This study investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of electrocorticographic (ECoG) responses to different types and colors of visual stimulation that were presented to four human participants, and demonstrated a real-time decoder that detects and discriminates responses to untrained natural images. Approach. ECoG signals from the participants were recorded while they were shown colored and greyscale versions of seven types of visual stimuli (images of faces, objects, bodies, line drawings, digits, and kanji and hiragana characters), resulting in 14 classes for discrimination (experiment I). Additionally, a real-time system asynchronously classified ECoG responses to faces, kanji and black screens presented via a monitor (experiment II), or to natural scenes (i.e. the face of an experimenter, natural images of faces and kanji, and a mirror) (experiment III). Outcome measures in all experiments included the discrimination performance across types based on broadband γ activity. Main results. Experiment I demonstrated an offline classification accuracy of 72.9% when discriminating among the seven types (without color separation). Further discrimination of grey versus colored images reached an accuracy of 67.1%. Discriminating all colors and types (14 classes) yielded an accuracy of 52.1%. In experiment II and III, the real-time decoder correctly detected 73.7% responses to face, kanji and black computer stimuli and 74.8% responses to presented natural scenes. Significance. Seven different types and their color information (either grey or color) could be detected and discriminated using broadband γ activity. Discrimination performance maximized for combined spatial-temporal information. The discrimination of stimulus color information provided the first ECoG-based evidence for color-related population

Trends in flash flood events versus convective precipitation in the Mediterranean region: The case of Catalonia

Science.gov (United States)

Llasat, Maria Carmen; Marcos, Raul; Turco, Marco; Gilabert, Joan; Llasat-Botija, Montserrat

2016-10-01

The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential relationship between flash flood events and convective precipitation in Catalonia, as well as any related trends. The paper starts with an overview of flash floods and their trends in the Mediterranean region, along with their associated factors, followed by the definition of, identification of, and trends in convective precipitation. After this introduction the paper focuses on the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, for which there is a long-term precipitation series (since 1928) of 1-min precipitation from the Fabra Observatory, as well as a shorter (1996-2011) but more extensive precipitation series (43 rain gauges) of 5-min precipitation. Both series have been used to characterise the degree of convective contribution to rainfall, introducing the β parameter as the ratio between convective precipitation versus total precipitation in any period. Information about flood events was obtained from the INUNGAMA database (a flood database created by the GAMA team), with the aim of finding any potential links to convective precipitation. These flood data were gathered using information on damage where flood is treated as a multifactorial risk, and where any trend or anomaly might have been caused by one or more factors affecting hazard, vulnerability or exposure. Trend analysis has shown an increase in flash flood events. The fact that no trends were detected in terms of extreme values of precipitation on a daily scale, nor on the associated ETCCDI (Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices) extreme index, could point to an increase in vulnerability, an increase in exposure, or changes in land use. However, the summer increase in convective precipitation was concentrated in less torrential events, which could partially explain this positive trend in flash flood events. The β parameter has been also used to characterise the type of flood event according to the features of the precipitation. The highest values

Fast digital processor for event selection according to particle number difference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basiladze, S.G.; Gus'kov, B.N.; Li Van Sun; Maksimov, A.N.; Parfenov, A.N.

1978-01-01

A fast digital processor for a magnetic spectrometer is described. It is used in experimental searches for charmed particles. The basic purpose of the processor is discriminating events in the difference of numbers of particles passing through two proportional chambers (PC). The processor consists of three units for detecting signals with PC, and a binary coder. The number of inputs of the processor is 32 for the first PC and 64 for the second. The difference in the number of particles discriminated is from 0 to 8. The resolution time is 180 ns. The processor is built in the CAMAC standard

Flash-Type Discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Koshak, William J.

2010-01-01

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

A comparison of different discrimination parameters for the DFT-based PSD method in fast scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, G.; Yang, J.; Luo, X.L.; Lin, C.B.; Peng, J.X.; Yang, Y.

2013-01-01

Although the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based pulse shape discrimination (PSD) method, realized by transforming the digitized scintillation pulses into frequency coefficients by using DFT, has been proven to effectively discriminate neutrons and γ rays, its discrimination performance depends strongly on the selection of the discrimination parameter obtained by the combination of these frequency coefficients. In order to thoroughly understand and apply the DFT-based PSD in organic scintillation detectors, a comparison of three different discrimination parameters, i.e. the amplitude of zero-frequency component, the amplitude difference between the amplitude of zero-frequency component and the amplitude of base-frequency component, and the ratio of the amplitude of base-frequency component to the amplitude of zero-frequency component, is described in this paper. An experimental setup consisting of an Americium–Beryllium (Am–Be) source, a BC501A liquid scintillator detector, and a 5Gsample/s 8-bit oscilloscope was built to assess the performance of the DFT-based PSD with each of these discrimination parameters in terms of the figure-of-merit (based on the separation of the event distributions). The third technique, which uses the ratio of the amplitude of base-frequency component to the amplitude of zero-frequency component as the discrimination parameter, is observed to provide the best discrimination performance in this research. - Highlights: • The spectrum difference between neutron pulse and γ-ray pulse was investigated. • The DFT-based PSD with different parameter definitions was assessed. • The way of using the ratio of magnitude spectrum provides the best performance. • The performance differences were explained from noise suppression features

Timbre discrimination in musical patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Grey, J M

1978-08-01

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

England's time to change antistigma campaign: one-year outcomes of service user-rated experiences of discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Claire; Corker, Elizabeth; Lewis-Holmes, Elanor; Hamilton, Sarah; Flach, Clare; Rose, Diana; Williams, Paul; Pinfold, Vanessa; Thornicroft, Graham

2012-01-01

This study evaluated the progress at one year of England's Time to Change (TTC) program, launched in 2009, toward meeting its target to reduce mental health-related stigma and discrimination by 5%. TTC comprises three national components: antistigma marketing campaign activities, mass physical exercise events (Time to Get Moving) to facilitate social contact between people with and without mental health problems, and an online resource on mental health and employment (Time to Challenge). Part of the TTC evaluation consists of an annual national phone survey of mental health service users. Participants (537 in 2008 and 1,047 in 2009) were current outpatient service users aged 18-65 registered with National Health Service community mental health teams that are selected annually to represent the range of socioeconomic deprivation. Telephone interviews were conducted with service users with the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC) to document experienced discrimination and anticipated discrimination in the past 12 months. One or more experiences of discrimination were reported by 9-1% of participants in 2008 and 87% of participants in 2009 (p = .03). In 2009 significantly less discrimination was reported from a number of common sources, including family (reported by 53% in 2008 and 46% in 2009), friends (53% and 39%), finding employment (24% and 16%), and keeping employment (from 17% to 13%). Experiences of discrimination from mental health professionals did not change significantly (reported by about one-third of participants in both years). Results suggest positive progress toward meeting the program's targeted 5% reduction in discrimination.

Event display of a H -> 4e candidate event

CERN Multimedia

ATLAS, Collaboration

2012-01-01

Event display (side view) of a H -> 4e candidate event with m(4l) = 124.5 (124.6) GeV without (with) Z mass constraint. The masses of the lepton pairs are 70.6 GeV and 44.7 GeV. The event was recorded by ATLAS on 18-May-2012, 20:28:11 CEST in run number 203602 as event number 82614360. The tracks of the two electron pairs are colored red and blue, respectively. Electron clusters in the LAr calorimeter are colored darkgreen. The three displays on the right-hand side show the r-phi view of the event (top), a zoom into the vertex region, indicating that the 4 electrons originate from the same primary vertex (middle), and a Lego plot indicating the amount of transverse energy Et measured in the calorimeters (bottom).

A Comparative Analysis of the Evolution of Gender Wage Discrimination: Spain Versus Galicia

OpenAIRE

Pena-Boquete, Yolanda

2006-01-01

The aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of female wage discrimination in the Spanish region of Galicia relative to the rest of Spain. The analysis starts from an established fact: women's average earnings are lower than men's. First, we try to show the causes behind this wage differential. Next, we discuss the evolution of the wage gap between 1995 and 2002, in order to bring some light on the factors potentially accounting for wage discrimination persistence in Galicia and Spain. We w...

A Comparative Analysis of the Evolution of Gender Wage Discrimination: Spain Versus Galicia.

OpenAIRE

Yolanda Pena-Boquete

2006-01-01

The aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of female wage discrimination in the Spanish region of Galicia relative to the rest of Spain. The analysis starts from an established fact: women’s average earnings are lower than men’s. First, we try to show the causes behind this wage differential. Next, we discuss the evolution of the wage gap between 1995 and 2002, in order to bring some light on the factors potentially accounting for wage discrimination persistence in Galicia and Spain. We w...

Containment Performance Evaluation of a Sodium Fire Event Due to Air Ingress into the Cover Gas Region of the Reactor Vessel in the PGSFR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Sang June; Chang, Won-Pyo; Kang, Seok Hun; Choi, Chi-Woong; Yoo, Jin; Lee, Kwi Lim; Jeong, Jae-Ho; Lee, Seung Won; Jeong, Taekyeong; Ha, Kwi-Seok

2015-01-01

Comparing with the light water reactor, sodium as a reactor coolant violently reacts with oxygen in the containment atmosphere. Due to this chemical reaction, heat generated from the combustion heat increases the temperature and pressure in the containment atmosphere. The structural integrity of the containment building which is a final radiological defense barrier is threaten. A sodium fire event in the containment due to air ingress into the cover gas region in the reactor vessel is classified as one of the design basis events in the PGSFR. This event comes from a leak or crack on the reactor upper closure header surface. It accompanys an event of the radiological fission products release to the inside the containment. In this paper, evaluation for the sodium fire and radiological influence due to air ingress into the cover gas region of the reactor vessel is described. To evaluate this event, the CONTAIN-LMR, MACCS-II and OR-IGEN-II codes are used. For the sodium pool fire event in the containment, the performance evaluation and radiological influence are carried out. In the thermal hydraulic aspects, the 1 cell containment yields the most conservative result. In this event, the maximum temperature and pressure in the containment are calculated 0.185 MPa, 280.0 .deg. C, respectively. The radiological dose at the EAB and LPZ are below the acceptance criteria specified in the 10CFR100

Containment Performance Evaluation of a Sodium Fire Event Due to Air Ingress into the Cover Gas Region of the Reactor Vessel in the PGSFR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Sang June; Chang, Won-Pyo; Kang, Seok Hun; Choi, Chi-Woong; Yoo, Jin; Lee, Kwi Lim; Jeong, Jae-Ho; Lee, Seung Won; Jeong, Taekyeong; Ha, Kwi-Seok [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

Comparing with the light water reactor, sodium as a reactor coolant violently reacts with oxygen in the containment atmosphere. Due to this chemical reaction, heat generated from the combustion heat increases the temperature and pressure in the containment atmosphere. The structural integrity of the containment building which is a final radiological defense barrier is threaten. A sodium fire event in the containment due to air ingress into the cover gas region in the reactor vessel is classified as one of the design basis events in the PGSFR. This event comes from a leak or crack on the reactor upper closure header surface. It accompanys an event of the radiological fission products release to the inside the containment. In this paper, evaluation for the sodium fire and radiological influence due to air ingress into the cover gas region of the reactor vessel is described. To evaluate this event, the CONTAIN-LMR, MACCS-II and OR-IGEN-II codes are used. For the sodium pool fire event in the containment, the performance evaluation and radiological influence are carried out. In the thermal hydraulic aspects, the 1 cell containment yields the most conservative result. In this event, the maximum temperature and pressure in the containment are calculated 0.185 MPa, 280.0 .deg. C, respectively. The radiological dose at the EAB and LPZ are below the acceptance criteria specified in the 10CFR100.

Alpha/beta(gamma ray) discrimination and spillover quantification with a BaF2 scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

1994-01-01

A simple pulse shape discrimination technique was used to separate alpha and beta(gamma ray) interactions in a BaF 2 scintillator. The separation was not ideal, resulting in a 5.1% spillover of alpha interactions into the beta(gamma ray) channel and 11.9% spillover of beta(gamma ray) interactions into the alpha channel for a set pulse shape discriminator. The misclassification of events was reduced by post-processing the data using either a simple analytical technique or a more complex linear least squares technique. Both techniques typically reduced the difference between the expected and calculated interaction rates to <10% when the ratio of beta(gamma ray) to alpha count rate was less than 100 : 1. ((orig.))

Rapid classification of turmeric based on DNA fingerprint by near-infrared spectroscopy combined with moving window partial least squares-discrimination analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasemsumran, Sumaporn; Suttiwijitpukdee, Nattaporn; Keeratinijakal, Vichein

2017-01-01

In this research, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in combination with moving window partial least squares-discrimination analysis (MWPLS-DA) was utilized to discriminate the variety of turmeric based on DNA markers, which correlated to the quantity of curcuminoid. Curcuminoid was used as a marker compound in variety identification due to the most pharmacological properties of turmeric possessed from it. MWPLS-DA optimized informative NIR spectral regions for the fitting and prediction to {-1/1}-coded turmeric varieties, indicating variables in the development of latent variables in discrimination analysis. Consequently, MWPLS-DA benefited in the selection of combined informative NIR spectral regions of 1100 – 1260, 1300 – 1500 and 1880 – 2500 nm for classification modeling of turmeric variety with 148 calibration samples, and yielded the results better than that obtained from a partial least squares-discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) model built by using the whole NIR spectral region. An effective and rapid strategy of using NIR in combination with MWPLS-DA provided the best variety identification results of 100% in both specificity and total accuracy for 48 test samples. (author)

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-06-01

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

20 CFR 405.30 - Discrimination complaints.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

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

International Trade and Labor Market Discrimination

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2016-01-01

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

Quantifying and estimating the predictive accuracy for censored time-to-event data with competing risks.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Cai; Li, Liang

2018-05-15

This paper focuses on quantifying and estimating the predictive accuracy of prognostic models for time-to-event outcomes with competing events. We consider the time-dependent discrimination and calibration metrics, including the receiver operating characteristics curve and the Brier score, in the context of competing risks. To address censoring, we propose a unified nonparametric estimation framework for both discrimination and calibration measures, by weighting the censored subjects with the conditional probability of the event of interest given the observed data. The proposed method can be extended to time-dependent predictive accuracy metrics constructed from a general class of loss functions. We apply the methodology to a data set from the African American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension to evaluate the predictive accuracy of a prognostic risk score in predicting end-stage renal disease, accounting for the competing risk of pre-end-stage renal disease death, and evaluate its numerical performance in extensive simulation studies. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Mohd Rijal

2015-01-01

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

Cryogenic dark matter search (CDMS II): Application of neural networks and wavelets to event analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Attisha, Michael J. [Brown U.

2006-01-01

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to search for dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their elastic scattering interactions with nuclei. This dissertation presents the CDMS detector technology and the commissioning of two towers of detectors at the deep underground site in Soudan, Minnesota. CDMS detectors comprise crystals of Ge and Si at temperatures of 20 mK which provide ~keV energy resolution and the ability to perform particle identification on an event by event basis. Event identification is performed via a two-fold interaction signature; an ionization response and an athermal phonon response. Phonons and charged particles result in electron recoils in the crystal, while neutrons and WIMPs result in nuclear recoils. Since the ionization response is quenched by a factor ~ 3(2) in Ge(Si) for nuclear recoils compared to electron recoils, the relative amplitude of the two detector responses allows discrimination between recoil types. The primary source of background events in CDMS arises from electron recoils in the outer 50 µm of the detector surface which have a reduced ionization response. We develop a quantitative model of this ‘dead layer’ effect and successfully apply the model to Monte Carlo simulation of CDMS calibration data. Analysis of data from the two tower run March-August 2004 is performed, resulting in the world’s most sensitive limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section, with a 90% C.L. upper limit of 1.6 × 10^-43 cm² on Ge for a 60 GeV WIMP. An approach to performing surface event discrimination using neural networks and wavelets is developed. A Bayesian methodology to classifying surface events using neural networks is found to provide an optimized method based on minimization of the expected dark matter limit. The discrete wavelet analysis of CDMS phonon pulses improves surface event discrimination in conjunction with the neural

Evaluating the feasibility of using candidate DNA barcodes in discriminating species of the large Asteraceae family.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ting; Yao, Hui; Song, Jingyuan; Zhu, Yingjie; Liu, Chang; Chen, Shilin

2010-10-26

Five DNA regions, namely, rbcL, matK, ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH, have been recommended as primary DNA barcodes for plants. Studies evaluating these regions for species identification in the large plant taxon, which includes a large number of closely related species, have rarely been reported. The feasibility of using the five proposed DNA regions was tested for discriminating plant species within Asteraceae, the largest family of flowering plants. Among these markers, ITS2 was the most useful in terms of universality, sequence variation, and identification capability in the Asteraceae family. The species discriminating power of ITS2 was also explored in a large pool of 3,490 Asteraceae sequences that represent 2,315 species belonging to 494 different genera. The result shows that ITS2 correctly identified 76.4% and 97.4% of plant samples at the species and genus levels, respectively. In addition, ITS2 displayed a variable ability to discriminate related species within different genera. ITS2 is the best DNA barcode for the Asteraceae family. This approach significantly broadens the application of DNA barcoding to resolve classification problems in the family Asteraceae at the genera and species levels.

Perceived age discrimination in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-05-01

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

45 CFR 148.180 - Prohibition of discrimination based on genetic information.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... records to excise any genetic information. T assembles the data requested by S and, although T reviews it to delete genetic information, the data from a specific region included some individuals' family... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Prohibition of discrimination based on genetic...

14 CFR 372.22 - Discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

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

Tagging b and c quark events in e+e- collisions with neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Proriol, J.; Falvard, A.; Henrard, P.; Jousset, J.; Brandl, B.

1992-01-01

High purity samples of b quark events and, if possible, of c quark events are attempted to produce, and the width of Γ(Z 0 → bb-bar) is measured. The different variables and the method to select the most discriminating variables are given. The physical results obtained with these methods are recalled, and new results are presented with variables connected with the impact parameter. Some neural networks used throughout this work and some results on c quark events selection are also presented. (K.A.) 9 refs.; 6 figs

Evaluation of four single-locus markers for leishmania species discrimination by sequencing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Auwera, Gert; Ravel, Christophe; Verweij, Jaco J.; Bart, Aldert; Schönian, Gabriele; Felger, Ingrid

2014-01-01

Several genetic markers have been described for discriminating Leishmania species. In most reported cases, one or a few polymorphisms are the basis of species identification, and the methods were validated on a limited number of strains from a particular geographical region. Therefore, most

14 CFR 399.36 - Unreasonable discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2006-03-01

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

A regional model simulation of the 1991 severe precipitation event over the Yangtze-Huai River Valley. Part 2: Model bias

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, W.; Wang, W.C.

2000-01-01

This is the second part of a study investigating the 1991 severe precipitation event over the Uangtze-Huai River valley (YHRV) in China using both observations and regional model simulations. While Part 1 reported on the Mei-yu front and its association with large-scale circulation, this study documents the biases associated with the treatment of the lateral boundary in the regional model. Two aspects of the biases were studied: the driving field, which provides large-scale boundary forcing, and the coupling scheme, which specified how the forcing is adopted by the model. The former bias is defined as model uncertainty because it is not related to the model itself, while the latter bias (as well as those biases attributed to other sources) is referred to as model error. These two aspects were examined by analyzing the regional model simulations of the 1991 summer severe precipitation event over YHRV using different driving fields (ECMWF-TOGA objective analysis, ECMWF reanalysis, and NCEP-NCAR reanalysis) and coupling scheme (distribution function of the nudging coefficient and width of the buffer zone). Spectral analysis was also used to study the frequency distribution of the bias.

14 CFR 380.26 - Discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

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

Development and validation of the Questionnaire of Stressful Life Events (QSLE).

Science.gov (United States)

Butjosa, Anna; Gómez-Benito, Juana; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Barajas, Ana; Baños, Iris; Usall, Judith; Grau, Norma; Granell, Luis; Sola, Andrea; Carlson, Janina; Dolz, Montserrat; Sánchez, Bernardo; Haro, Josep Maria; Ochoa, Susana

2017-12-01

Stressful life events (SLEs) are important indicators prior to the onset of first-episode psychosis (FEP). Although there are well-validated interviews and self-reports for assessing SLE on proximate events, unfortunately there are no instruments to assess SLE covering an entire lifetime. This study includes detailed specific items of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood focused on the presence of SLE, emotional impact (stressfulness), and the age at which the event occurred. Our research describes 2 studies designed to develop and validate a new scale to assess SLE: the Questionnaire of Stressful Life Events (QSLE). In Study 1, an over-inclusive item pool was generated based on review of group of experts at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and content validity was examined by an Expert Survey. The whole scale represents the content domain. In Study 2, item-level analyses revealed good distributional properties, intra-rater reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. In the sensitivity and specificity analysis, 18 items had high relevance in the discriminability between patients with FEP and healthy controls. We note that there was an AUC of 0.676, indicating a good predictor. Using 7 as a cutoff to predict an individual as a patient would yield a sensitivity of 64.8% and a specificity of 65%. Overall, the QSLE displayed satisfactory psychometric characteristics in a Spanish population. These results suggest that QSLE gives us the opportunity to investigate childhood, adolescent, and adult life events by measuring the stress and age at the moment on a continuous scale. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Collection and analysis of existing information on applicability of investigation methods for characterizing natural events/processes in a coastal region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayasu, Akio; Niizato, Tadafumi; Yasue, Ken-ichi; Doke, Ryosuke; Shigehiro, Michiko; Tanaka, Takenobu; Aoki, Michinori; Sekiya, Ayako

2011-02-01

The investigation methods for characterizing natural events and processes in a coastal field have been extracted on the basis of analysis of previous research. Collected information is classified into three groups according to the characteristics of natural events/processes and investigation methods. First group is the methods for evaluation of uplift, subsidence and sedimentation rates. Second group is the methods for evaluation of denudation rates. The third group is the methods for reconstruction of the climatic and sea-level changes. Study area, timeframe of the investigation, work sequences, techniques for age-determination, index and objects for characterizing natural events/processes, etc. in each research example were arranged in an 'information spread sheet'. Information on applicability of the each investigation method was extracted from information spread sheet, and was arranged in tabular form. Based on an analysis of the above information, investigation method that can be applied to a coastal region was extracted. The methods and indices are as follows: Uplift rate: the heights of marine terraces are the most important index in an upheaval region. Subsidence and sedimentation rate: the depths of strata underlying an alluvial plain are main indices in a subsidence region. Denudation rate: the features of marine terrace are main indices and the inspection of denudation processes by the use of a numerical simulation is necessary. Climate change: lacustrine deposits are main object for investigation. Sea-level change: reconstruction of relative sea-level change curve including uplift/subsidence factor and paleogeography based on acoustic exploration and the investigation of marine terraces. (author)

45 CFR 1624.4 - Discrimination prohibited.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

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

Refining DNA Barcoding Coupled High Resolution Melting for Discrimination of 12 Closely Related Croton Species.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maslin Osathanunkul

Full Text Available DNA barcoding coupled high resolution melting (Bar-HRM is an emerging method for species discrimination based on DNA dissociation kinetics. The aim of this work was to evaluate the suitability of different primer sets, derived from selected DNA regions, for Bar-HRM analysis of species in Croton (Euphorbiaceae, one of the largest genera of plants with over 1,200 species. Seven primer pairs were evaluated (matK, rbcL1, rbcL2, rbcL3, rpoC, trnL and ITS1 from four plastid regions, matK, rbcL, rpoC, and trnL, and the nuclear ribosomal marker ITS1. The primer pair derived from the ITS1 region was the single most effective region for the identification of the tested species, whereas the rbcL1 primer pair gave the lowest resolution. It was observed that the ITS1 barcode was the most useful DNA barcoding region overall for species discrimination out of all of the regions and primers assessed. Our Bar-HRM results here also provide further support for the hypothesis that both sequence and base composition affect DNA duplex stability.

Nicotine as a discriminative stimulus for ethanol use.

Science.gov (United States)

Ginsburg, Brett C; Levy, Simon A; Lamb, R J

2018-01-01

Abused drugs reinforce behavior; i.e., they increase the probability of the behavior preceding their administration. Abused drugs can also act as discriminative stimuli; i.e., they can set the occasion for responding reinforced by another event. Thus, one abused drug could come to set the occasion for the use of another and this functional relationship may play a role in polysubstance abuse, where common patterns of use could result in this relationship. Here we establish nicotine (0.4mg/kg, ip 5-min pre-session) as a discriminative stimulus for behavior reinforced by ethanol (0.1ml 8% w/v po, versus food) and determine the ability of nicotine (0.02-0.4mg/kg), varenicline (0.1-3.0mg/kg), and ethanol (250 and 500mg/kg) to control responding for ethanol. We compare these results to those from rats where nicotine signaled food was available (and ethanol was not). Nicotine came to function as a discriminative stimulus. Nicotine and varenicline produced dose-dependent increases in responding on the nicotine-appropriate lever while ethanol produced responding on the vehicle-appropriate lever. Whether this responding occurred on the lever that produced ethanol or food access depended on the training condition. These results demonstrate that a drug can come to set the occasion for use of another and suggest that this behavioral mechanism could play an important role in the maintenance of and recovery from polysubstance abuse, depending on the pattern of use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Price Discrimination: A Classroom Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Aguiló, Paula; Sard, Maria; Tugores, Maria

2016-01-01

In this article, the authors describe a classroom experiment aimed at familiarizing students with different types of price discrimination (first-, second-, and third-degree price discrimination). During the experiment, the students were asked to decide what tariffs to set as monopolists for each of the price discrimination scenarios under…

Children's perceptions of gender discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Spears Brown, Christia; Bigler, Rebecca S

2004-09-01

Children (N = 76; ages 5-10 years) participated in a study designed to examine perceptions of gender discrimination. Children were read scenarios in which a teacher determined outcomes for 2 students (1 boy and 1 girl). Contextual information (i.e., teacher's past behavior), the gender of the target of discrimination (i.e., student), and the gender of the perpetrator (i.e., teacher) were manipulated. Results indicated that older children were more likely than younger children to make attributions to discrimination when contextual information suggested that it was likely. Girls (but not boys) were more likely to view girls than boys as victims of discrimination, and children with egalitarian gender attitudes were more likely to perceive discrimination than were their peers. Copyright 2004 American Psychological Association

Assessing ECG signal quality indices to discriminate ECGs with artefacts from pathologically different arrhythmic ECGs.

Science.gov (United States)

Daluwatte, C; Johannesen, L; Galeotti, L; Vicente, J; Strauss, D G; Scully, C G

2016-08-01

False and non-actionable alarms in critical care can be reduced by developing algorithms which assess the trueness of an arrhythmia alarm from a bedside monitor. Computational approaches that automatically identify artefacts in ECG signals are an important branch of physiological signal processing which tries to address this issue. Signal quality indices (SQIs) derived considering differences between artefacts which occur in ECG signals and normal QRS morphology have the potential to discriminate pathologically different arrhythmic ECG segments as artefacts. Using ECG signals from the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2015 training set, we studied previously reported ECG SQIs in the scientific literature to differentiate ECG segments with artefacts from arrhythmic ECG segments. We found that the ability of SQIs to discriminate between ECG artefacts and arrhythmic ECG varies based on arrhythmia type since the pathology of each arrhythmic ECG waveform is different. Therefore, to reduce the risk of SQIs classifying arrhythmic events as noise it is important to validate and test SQIs with databases that include arrhythmias. Arrhythmia specific SQIs may also minimize the risk of misclassifying arrhythmic events as noise.

Evaluation of Affirmative Action in the Context of Possible Unfair Discrimination Against Subgroups in the Designated Group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myrone Christopher Stoffels

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The implementation of affirmative action measures can give rise to unfair discrimination. In cases where members of the “designated groups” compete with one another for the same position, there can be allegations of unfair discrimination. The question arises as to how the employer needs to act in order to avoid unfair discrimination in cases where more than one person from the designated group applies for the same position. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of unfair discrimination on the designated group, specifically with regard to the subgroup “black people” as well as how the employer can avoid unfair discrimination in the implementation of the affirmative action measures aimed at advancing “black people” by selecting the most suitably qualified person from the sub group black people based on the national and regional demographics.

Amplitude Models for Discrimination and Yield Estimation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Phillips, William Scott [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-09-01

This seminar presentation describes amplitude models and yield estimations that look at the data in order to inform legislation. The following points were brought forth in the summary: global models that will predict three-component amplitudes (R-T-Z) were produced; Q models match regional geology; corrected source spectra can be used for discrimination and yield estimation; three-component data increase coverage and reduce scatter in source spectral estimates; three-component efforts must include distance-dependent effects; a community effort on instrument calibration is needed.

Transgender Discrimination and the Law

Science.gov (United States)

Trotter, Richard

2010-01-01

An emerging area of law is developing regarding sex/gender identity discrimination, also referred to as transgender discrimination, as distinguished from discrimination based on sexual orientation. A transgendered individual is defined as "a person who has a gender-identity disorder which is a persistent discomfort about one?s assigned sex or…

18- and 24-month-olds' discrimination of gender-consistent and inconsistent activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Sara E; Flom, Ross

2007-02-01

18- and 24-month-olds' ability to discriminate gender-stereotyped activities was assessed. Using a preferential looking paradigm, toddlers viewed male and female actors performing masculine and feminine-stereotyped activities. Consistent with our predictions, and previous research, 24-month-olds, but not 18-month-olds, looked longer at the gender-inconsistent activities than the gender-consistent activities. Results are discussed in terms of toddlers emerging gender stereotypes and perception of everyday events.

Event display of a H -> 2e2mu candidate event

CERN Multimedia

ATLAS, Collaboration

2012-01-01

Event display of a H -> 2e2mu candidate event with m(4l) = 122.6 (123.9) GeV without (with) Z mass constraint. The masses of the lepton pairs are 87.9 GeV and 19.6 GeV. The event was recorded by ATLAS on 18-Jun-2012, 11:07:47 CEST in run number 205113 as event number 12611816. Muon tracks are colored red, electron tracks and clusters in the LAr calorimeter are colored green. The larger inset shows a zoom into the tracking detector. The smaller inset shows a zoom into the vertex region, indicating that the 4 leptons originate from the same primary vertex.

Determination of the isotopic (C-13/C-12) discrimination by terrestrial biology from a global network of observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakwin, P.S.; Tans, P.P.; White, J.W.C.; Andres, R.J.

1998-01-01

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory global air sampling network are analysed in order to extract the signatures of isotopic (C-13/C-12) discrimination by the terrestrial iota and of fossil fuel combustion for the regions surrounding the sampling sites. Measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) are used to give an estimate of the contribution of fossil fuel combustion to the short-term variability of carbon dioxide. In general, variations of CO 2 are more strongly dominated by biological exchange, so the isotopic signature of fossil fuel combustion, while consistent with inventory estimates, is not well constrained by the observations. Conversely, results for isotope discrimination by the terrestrial biosphere are not strongly dependent on assumptions about fossil fuel combustion. The analysis appears valid primarily for stations fairly near continental source/sink regions, particularly for midlatitude regions of the northern hemisphere. For these stations a mean discrimination of -16.8 per mil (%) is derived, with site-to-site variability of 0.8% and with little or no consistent latitudinal gradient

The Role of Discrimination in Care Postponement Among Trans-Feminine Individuals in the U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Glick, Jennifer L; Theall, Katherine P; Andrinopoulos, Katherine M; Kendall, Carl

2018-04-01

This study examines the associations between discrimination experiences (types and locations) and care postponement among trans-feminine individuals in the United States. This secondary, cross-sectional study utilized a subset of the data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (n = 2248), specifically for trans-feminine individuals. In this analysis, we examined the relationship between discrimination and primary care postponement. Twenty-six percent (26.25%) of the study sample reported delaying preventive care due to fear of discrimination; 23.98%-46.66% of respondents reported past experiences of discrimination (setting dependent). Discrimination in health and non-health settings and different types of discrimination-being denied services, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted-were all significantly associated with delaying care; respondents reporting discrimination were up to 20 times more likely to postpone care. While discrimination at a health location had the strongest association with care postponement (adjusted odds ratio = 9.65, confidence interval = 7.60-12.24), discrimination in all non-health-related locations was also important. Individuals reporting discrimination in greater numbers of locations and multiple types of discrimination were more likely to postpone care. To promote preventive care-seeking, these results affirm the importance of interventions that promote discrimination-free environments for gender minorities.

Present and past: Can writing abilities in school children be associated with their auditory discrimination capacities in infancy?

Science.gov (United States)

Schaadt, Gesa; Männel, Claudia; van der Meer, Elke; Pannekamp, Ann; Oberecker, Regine; Friederici, Angela D

2015-12-01

Literacy acquisition is highly associated with auditory processing abilities, such as auditory discrimination. The event-related potential Mismatch Response (MMR) is an indicator for cortical auditory discrimination abilities and it has been found to be reduced in individuals with reading and writing impairments and also in infants at risk for these impairments. The goal of the present study was to analyze the relationship between auditory speech discrimination in infancy and writing abilities at school age within subjects, and to determine when auditory speech discrimination differences, relevant for later writing abilities, start to develop. We analyzed the MMR registered in response to natural syllables in German children with and without writing problems at two points during development, that is, at school age and at infancy, namely at age 1 month and 5 months. We observed MMR related auditory discrimination differences between infants with and without later writing problems, starting to develop at age 5 months-an age when infants begin to establish language-specific phoneme representations. At school age, these children with and without writing problems also showed auditory discrimination differences, reflected in the MMR, confirming a relationship between writing and auditory speech processing skills. Thus, writing problems at school age are, at least, partly grounded in auditory discrimination problems developing already during the first months of life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing Adverse Events of Postprostatectomy Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Outcomes in the Regione Emilia-Romagna, Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Showalter, Timothy N.; Hegarty, Sarah E.; Rabinowitz, Carol; Maio, Vittorio; Hyslop, Terry; Dicker, Adam P.; Louis, Daniel Z.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Although the likelihood of radiation-related adverse events influences treatment decisions regarding radiation therapy after prostatectomy for eligible patients, the data available to inform decisions are limited. This study was designed to evaluate the genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and sexual adverse events associated with postprostatectomy radiation therapy and to assess the influence of radiation timing on the risk of adverse events. Methods: The Regione Emilia-Romagna Italian Longitudinal Health Care Utilization Database was queried to identify a cohort of men who received radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer during 2003 to 2009, including patients who received postprostatectomy radiation therapy. Patients with prior radiation therapy were excluded. Outcome measures were genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and sexual adverse events after prostatectomy. Rates of adverse events were compared between the cohorts who did and did not receive postoperative radiation therapy. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were developed for each class of adverse events, including models with radiation therapy as a time-varying covariate. Results: A total of 9876 men were included in the analyses: 2176 (22%) who received radiation therapy and 7700 (78%) treated with prostatectomy alone. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, the additional exposure to radiation therapy after prostatectomy was associated with increased rates of gastrointestinal (rate ratio [RR] 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.44-2.27; P<.001) and urinary nonincontinence events (RR 1.83; 95% CI 1.83-2.80; P<.001) but not urinary incontinence events or erectile dysfunction. The addition of the time from prostatectomy to radiation therapy interaction term was not significant for any of the adverse event outcomes (P>.1 for all outcomes). Conclusion: Radiation therapy after prostatectomy is associated with an increase in gastrointestinal and genitourinary adverse events. However

Assessing Adverse Events of Postprostatectomy Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Outcomes in the Regione Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Showalter, Timothy N., E-mail: tns3b@virginia.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (United States); Hegarty, Sarah E. [Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Division of Biostatistics, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Rabinowitz, Carol [Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Maio, Vittorio [Jefferson School of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Hyslop, Terry [Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Dicker, Adam P. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center & Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States); Louis, Daniel Z. [Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States)

2015-03-15

Purpose: Although the likelihood of radiation-related adverse events influences treatment decisions regarding radiation therapy after prostatectomy for eligible patients, the data available to inform decisions are limited. This study was designed to evaluate the genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and sexual adverse events associated with postprostatectomy radiation therapy and to assess the influence of radiation timing on the risk of adverse events. Methods: The Regione Emilia-Romagna Italian Longitudinal Health Care Utilization Database was queried to identify a cohort of men who received radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer during 2003 to 2009, including patients who received postprostatectomy radiation therapy. Patients with prior radiation therapy were excluded. Outcome measures were genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and sexual adverse events after prostatectomy. Rates of adverse events were compared between the cohorts who did and did not receive postoperative radiation therapy. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were developed for each class of adverse events, including models with radiation therapy as a time-varying covariate. Results: A total of 9876 men were included in the analyses: 2176 (22%) who received radiation therapy and 7700 (78%) treated with prostatectomy alone. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, the additional exposure to radiation therapy after prostatectomy was associated with increased rates of gastrointestinal (rate ratio [RR] 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.44-2.27; P<.001) and urinary nonincontinence events (RR 1.83; 95% CI 1.83-2.80; P<.001) but not urinary incontinence events or erectile dysfunction. The addition of the time from prostatectomy to radiation therapy interaction term was not significant for any of the adverse event outcomes (P>.1 for all outcomes). Conclusion: Radiation therapy after prostatectomy is associated with an increase in gastrointestinal and genitourinary adverse events. However

THE JURIDICAL PROTECTION ON GLOBAL DISCRIMINATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CRISTINA OTOVESCU FRĂSIE

2012-05-01

Full Text Available In this study I wished to evidence the main juridical documents referring to discrimination, adopted world wide by the United Nations Organization. Thus, can be identified several types of definitions concerning the discrimination against women, the race discrimination, the torture etc. within the analyzed documents. The democratic countries have laws that punish the discrimination, but, unfortunately, there are discrimination phenomena for example regarding the ethnicity, the gender, the language, the convictions, the age, at the working place, inside the family etc.

Pitch discrimination learning: specificity for pitch and harmonic resolvability, and electrophysiological correlates.

Science.gov (United States)

Carcagno, Samuele; Plack, Christopher J

2011-08-01

Multiple-hour training on a pitch discrimination task dramatically decreases the threshold for detecting a pitch difference between two harmonic complexes. Here, we investigated the specificity of this perceptual learning with respect to the pitch and the resolvability of the trained harmonic complex, as well as its cortical electrophysiological correlates. We trained 24 participants for 12 h on a pitch discrimination task using one of four different harmonic complexes. The complexes differed in pitch and/or spectral resolvability of their components by the cochlea, but were filtered into the same spectral region. Cortical-evoked potentials and a behavioral measure of pitch discrimination were assessed before and after training for all the four complexes. The change in these measures was compared to that of two control groups: one trained on a level discrimination task and one without any training. The behavioral results showed that learning was partly specific to both pitch and resolvability. Training with a resolved-harmonic complex improved pitch discrimination for resolved complexes more than training with an unresolved complex. However, we did not find evidence that training with an unresolved complex leads to specific learning for unresolved complexes. Training affected the P2 component of the cortical-evoked potentials, as well as a later component (250-400 ms). No significant changes were found on the mismatch negativity (MMN) component, although a separate experiment showed that this measure was sensitive to pitch changes equivalent to the pitch discriminability changes induced by training. This result suggests that pitch discrimination training affects processes not measured by the MMN, for example, processes higher in level or parallel to those involved in MMN generation.

The time-course of activation in the dorsal and ventral visual streams during landmark cueing and perceptual discrimination tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Anthony J; Wootton, Adrienne

2017-08-01

Different patterns of high density EEG activity were elicited by the same peripheral stimuli, in the context of Landmark Cueing and Perceptual Discrimination tasks. The C1 component of the visual event-related potential (ERP) at parietal - occipital electrode sites was larger in the Landmark Cueing task, and source localisation suggested greater activation in the superior parietal lobule (SPL) in this task, compared to the Perceptual Discrimination task, indicating stronger early recruitment of the dorsal visual stream. In the Perceptual Discrimination task, source localisation suggested widespread activation of the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and fusiform gyrus (FFG), structures associated with the ventral visual stream, during the early phase of the P1 ERP component. Moreover, during a later epoch (171-270ms after stimulus onset) increased temporal-occipital negativity, and stronger recruitment of ITG and FFG were observed in the Perceptual Discrimination task. These findings illuminate the contrasting functions of the dorsal and ventral visual streams, to support rapid shifts of attention in response to contextual landmarks, and conscious discrimination, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unambiguous discrimination of mixed quantum states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Chi; Feng Yuan; Ying Mingsheng

2006-01-01

The problem of unambiguous discrimination between mixed quantum states is addressed by isolating the part of each mixed state which has no contribution to discrimination and by employing the strategy of set discrimination of pure states. A necessary and sufficient condition of unambiguous mixed state discrimination is presented. An upper bound of the efficiency is also derived

Drug use Discrimination Predicts Formation of High-Risk Social Networks: Examining Social Pathways of Discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Natalie D; Ford, Chandra; Rudolph, Abby; Kim, BoRin; Lewis, Crystal M

2017-09-01

Experiences of discrimination, or social marginalization and ostracism, may lead to the formation of social networks characterized by inequality. For example, those who experience discrimination may be more likely to develop drug use and sexual partnerships with others who are at increased risk for HIV compared to those without experiences of discrimination. This is critical as engaging in risk behaviors with others who are more likely to be HIV positive can increase one's risk of HIV. We used log-binomial regression models to examine the relationship between drug use, racial and incarceration discrimination with changes in the composition of one's risk network among 502 persons who use drugs. We examined both absolute and proportional changes with respect to sex partners, drug use partners, and injecting partners, after accounting for individual risk behaviors. At baseline, participants were predominately male (70%), black or Latino (91%), un-married (85%), and used crack (64%). Among those followed-up (67%), having experienced discrimination due to drug use was significantly related to increases in the absolute number of sex networks and drug networks over time. No types of discrimination were related to changes in the proportion of high-risk network members. Discrimination may increase one's risk of HIV acquisition by leading them to preferentially form risk relationships with higher-risk individuals, thereby perpetuating racial and ethnic inequities in HIV. Future social network studies and behavioral interventions should consider whether social discrimination plays a role in HIV transmission.

Large number discrimination by mosquitofish.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Agrillo

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated that fish display rudimentary numerical abilities similar to those observed in mammals and birds. The mechanisms underlying the discrimination of small quantities (<4 were recently investigated while, to date, no study has examined the discrimination of large numerosities in fish. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Subjects were trained to discriminate between two sets of small geometric figures using social reinforcement. In the first experiment mosquitofish were required to discriminate 4 from 8 objects with or without experimental control of the continuous variables that co-vary with number (area, space, density, total luminance. Results showed that fish can use the sole numerical information to compare quantities but that they preferentially use cumulative surface area as a proxy of the number when this information is available. A second experiment investigated the influence of the total number of elements to discriminate large quantities. Fish proved to be able to discriminate up to 100 vs. 200 objects, without showing any significant decrease in accuracy compared with the 4 vs. 8 discrimination. The third experiment investigated the influence of the ratio between the numerosities. Performance was found to decrease when decreasing the numerical distance. Fish were able to discriminate numbers when ratios were 1:2 or 2:3 but not when the ratio was 3:4. The performance of a sample of undergraduate students, tested non-verbally using the same sets of stimuli, largely overlapped that of fish. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Fish are able to use pure numerical information when discriminating between quantities larger than 4 units. As observed in human and non-human primates, the numerical system of fish appears to have virtually no upper limit while the numerical ratio has a clear effect on performance. These similarities further reinforce the view of a common origin of non-verbal numerical systems in all

Multipurpose discriminator with accurate time coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baldin, B.Yu.; Krumshtejn, Z.V.; Ronzhin, A.I.

1977-01-01

The principle diagram of a multipurpose discriminator is described, designed on the basis of a wide-band differential amplifier. The discriminator has three independent channels: the timing channel, the lower level discriminator and the control channel. The timing channel and the lower level discriminator are connected to a coincidence circuit. Three methods of timing are used: a single threshold, a double threshold with timing on the pulse front, and a constant fraction timing. The lower level discriminator is a wide-band amplifier with an adjustable threshold. The investigation of compensation characteristics of the discriminator has shown that the time shift of the discriminator output in the constant fraction timing regime does not exceed +-75 ns for the input signal range of 1:85. The time resolution was found to be 20 ns in the 20% energy range near the photo-peak maximum of 60 Co γ source

Perceived Age Discrimination as a Mediator of the Association Between Income Inequality and Older People's Self-Rated Health in the European Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Vauclair, Christin-Melanie; Marques, Sibila; Lima, Maria L; Abrams, Dominic; Swift, Hannah; Bratt, Christopher

2015-11-01

The relative income hypothesis predicts poorer health in societies with greater income inequality. This article examines whether the psychosocial factors of perceived age discrimination and (lack of) social capital may help explain the adverse effect of inequality on older people's health. Self-rated health, perceived age discrimination, and social capital were assessed in the 2008/9 European Social Survey (European Social Survey Round 4 Data, 2008). The Gini coefficient was used to represent national inequalities in income in each of the 28 European Social Survey countries. Mediation analyses (within a multilevel structural equation modeling paradigm) on a subsample of respondents over 70 years of age (N = 7,819) were used to examine whether perceived age discrimination mediates the negative effect of income inequality on older people's self-rated health. Perceived age discrimination fully mediated the associations between income inequality and self-rated health. When social capital was included into the model, only age discrimination remained a significant mediator and predictor of self-rated health. Concrete instances of age discrimination in unequal societies are an important psychosocial stressor for older people. Awareness that the perception of ageism can be an important stressor and affect older patient's self-reported health has important implications for the way health practitioners understand and treat the sources of patient's health problems in later life. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Pulse shape discrimination studies of Phase I Ge-detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirsch, Andrea [MPI fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Collaboration: GERDA-Collaboration

2013-07-01

The GERmanium Detector Array experiment aims to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of {sup 76}Ge by using isotopically enriched germanium crystals as source and detector simultaneously. The bare semiconductor diodes are operated in liquid argon at cryogenic temperatures in an ultra-low background environment. In addition, Gerda applies different active background reduction techniques, one of which is pulse shape discrimination studies of the current Phase I germanium detectors. The analysis of the signal time structure provides an important tool to distinguish single site events (SSE) of the ββ-decay from multi site events (MSE) of common gamma-ray background or surface events. To investigate the correlation between the signal shape and the interaction position, a new, also to the predominantly deployed closed-ended coaxial HPGe detectors applicable analysis technique has been developed. A summary of the used electronic/detector assembly is given and followed by a discussion of the performed classification procedure by means of accurate pulse shape simulations of 0νββ-like signals. Finally, the obtained results are presented along with an evaluation of the relevance for the Gerda experiment.

Probability estimates of heavy precipitation events in a flood-prone central-European region with enhanced influence of Mediterranean cyclones

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kyselý, Jan; Picek, J.

2007-01-01

Roč. 12, - (2007), s. 43-50 ISSN 1680-7340 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KJB300420601 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : extreme precipitation event * region al frequency analysis * Generalized Extreme Value distribution * Generalized Logistic distribution * central Europe * Czech Republic Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology www.adv-geosci.net/12/43/2007/

Challenges of Tsunami Disaster and Extreme climate Events Along Coastal Region in Asia-Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhari, S.

2017-12-01

systems through Geohazards Studies on vulnerability and risk assessments along coastal regions. The poster presentation also focuses on building natural -social science research community for sustainable solutions adoptions and mitigations of impacts of extreme climate events on environment and ecosystems along coastal region.

Price discrimination in two-sided markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Zhang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The use of a price discrimination strategy is an important tool in competition. It can hurt firms and benefit consumers in a one-sided market. However, in two-sided markets, its primary goal is to attract more agents or increase profits. Here, the performance of a second-degree price discrimination strategy in the context of duopoly two-sided platforms is analysed. Two exogenous variables, which include the discount rate and the price discrimination threshold, are used in order to examine whether the price discrimination strategy could help two-sided platforms achieve their objective, which is to maximise their market value. Three cases are considered, and we demonstrate that the price discrimination strategy cannot attract more agents and at the same time increase the profits; a lower price discrimination threshold cannot ensure larger markets shares; a higher discount rate is detrimental to the profit of a platform. However, this is good for its market shares. Moreover, discriminative pricing increases the competition.

Fundamental aspects of seismic event detection, magnitude estimation and their interrelation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ringdal, F.

1977-01-01

The main common subject of the papers forming this thesis is statistical model development within the seismological disciplines of seismic event detection and event magnitude estimation. As more high quality seismic data become available as a result of recent seismic network developments, the opportunity will exist for large scale application and further refinement of these models. It is hoped that the work presented here will facilitate improved understanding of the basic issues, both within earthquake-explosion discrimination, in the framework of which most of this work originated, and in seismology in general. (Auth.)

Cognitive flexibility modulates maturation and music-training-related changes in neural sound discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Saarikivi, Katri; Putkinen, Vesa; Tervaniemi, Mari; Huotilainen, Minna

2016-07-01

Previous research has demonstrated that musicians show superior neural sound discrimination when compared to non-musicians, and that these changes emerge with accumulation of training. Our aim was to investigate whether individual differences in executive functions predict training-related changes in neural sound discrimination. We measured event-related potentials induced by sound changes coupled with tests for executive functions in musically trained and non-trained children aged 9-11 years and 13-15 years. High performance in a set-shifting task, indexing cognitive flexibility, was linked to enhanced maturation of neural sound discrimination in both musically trained and non-trained children. Specifically, well-performing musically trained children already showed large mismatch negativity (MMN) responses at a young age as well as at an older age, indicating accurate sound discrimination. In contrast, the musically trained low-performing children still showed an increase in MMN amplitude with age, suggesting that they were behind their high-performing peers in the development of sound discrimination. In the non-trained group, in turn, only the high-performing children showed evidence of an age-related increase in MMN amplitude, and the low-performing children showed a small MMN with no age-related change. These latter results suggest an advantage in MMN development also for high-performing non-trained individuals. For the P3a amplitude, there was an age-related increase only in the children who performed well in the set-shifting task, irrespective of music training, indicating enhanced attention-related processes in these children. Thus, the current study provides the first evidence that, in children, cognitive flexibility may influence age-related and training-related plasticity of neural sound discrimination. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Quantum-state comparison and discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-05-01

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

CAMAC differential pulse discriminator-counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tselikov, N.V.

1987-01-01

Differential pulse discriminator-counter for Moessbauer spectrometer is described. Input pulse setting into the channel is performed according to the following algorithm: the pulse is transmitted to the channel depending on the fact whether the preceding pulse has got to the discrimination window or not. The circuit does not contain delay lines, taking into account the delay of a signal from the upper level discriminator in relation to the lower level discriminator signal, which is connected with input pulse rise finite time, which in turn allows one to reduce the discriminator dead time up to the operation time of threshold circuits. The pulse counting rate is 150 MHz, input signal amplitude is ±3 V, dead time is 6 ns, delay time from input to output is 14 ns. The unit is made in CAMAC system

Individual differences in attention strategies during detection, fine discrimination, and coarse discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Hecker, Elizabeth A.; Serences, John T.; Srinivasan, Ramesh

2013-01-01

Interacting with the environment requires the ability to flexibly direct attention to relevant features. We examined the degree to which individuals attend to visual features within and across Detection, Fine Discrimination, and Coarse Discrimination tasks. Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses were measured to an unattended peripheral flickering (4 or 6 Hz) grating while individuals (n = 33) attended to orientations that were offset by 0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, and 90° from the orientation of the unattended flicker. These unattended responses may be sensitive to attentional gain at the attended spatial location, since attention to features enhances early visual responses throughout the visual field. We found no significant differences in tuning curves across the three tasks in part due to individual differences in strategies. We sought to characterize individual attention strategies using hierarchical Bayesian modeling, which grouped individuals into families of curves that reflect attention to the physical target orientation (“on-channel”) or away from the target orientation (“off-channel”) or a uniform distribution of attention. The different curves were related to behavioral performance; individuals with “on-channel” curves had lower thresholds than individuals with uniform curves. Individuals with “off-channel” curves during Fine Discrimination additionally had lower thresholds than those assigned to uniform curves, highlighting the perceptual benefits of attending away from the physical target orientation during fine discriminations. Finally, we showed that a subset of individuals with optimal curves (“on-channel”) during Detection also demonstrated optimal curves (“off-channel”) during Fine Discrimination, indicating that a subset of individuals can modulate tuning optimally for detection and discrimination. PMID:23678013

Strategies of Iranian nurses to overcome professional discrimination: An explorative qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shohani, Masoumeh

2017-01-01

Discrimination is a situation in which individuals receive unequal social benefits in return for equal roles they play. They react to such a situation in different ways. This study aims at identifying the strategies used by Iranian nurses to overcome professional discrimination. This qualitative study was conducted with the participation of 23 nurses who worked in hospitals in the cities of Tehran, Tabriz, and Ilam. They were selected based on purposive sampling. Data were collected using deep and unstructured interviews in a period of time between May 2013 and June 2014. Interviews were simultaneously analyzed using conventional content analysis method after being transcribed. Ethical consideration: This study was approved by the Regional Committee of Medical Research Ethics. Also, voluntary participation, anonymity, and confidentiality were considered. "Presenting a positive image of oneself," "objection," and "expectation" were three themes extracted through data analysis. Organizational discrimination puts nurses under stress and pressure. Nurses react to unfair behavior in different ways. These reactions are harmful to an organization and lead to negative consequences. Professional discrimination has made nurses adopt strategies which would lead to such consequences, which in turn influences their performance as nurses.

Studies in genetic discrimination. Final progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-06-01

We have screened 1006 respondents in a study of genetic discrimination. Analysis of these responses has produced evidence of the range of institutions engaged in genetic discrimination and demonstrates the impact of this discrimination on the respondents to the study. We have found that both ignorance and policy underlie genetic discrimination and that anti-discrimination laws are being violated.

Off-line correction for excessive constant-fraction-discriminator walk in neutron time-of-flight experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heilbronn, Lawrence; Iwata, Yoshiyuki; Iwase, H.

2003-01-01

A method for reducing excessive constant-fraction-discriminator walk that utilizes experimental data in the off-line analysis stage is introduced. Excessive walk is defined here as any walk that leads to an overall timing resolution that is much greater than the intrinsic timing resolution of the detection system. The method is able to reduce the contribution to the overall timing resolution from the walk that is equal to or less than the intrinsic timing resolution of the detectors. Although the method is explained in the context of a neutron time-of-flight experiment, it is applicable to any data set that satisfies two conditions. (1) A measure of the signal amplitude for each event must be recorded on an event-by-event basis; and (2) There must be a distinguishable class of events present where the timing information is known a priori

A simple neutron-gamma discriminating system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Zhongming; Xing Shilin; Wang Zhongmin

1986-01-01

A simple neutron-gamma discriminating system is described. A detector and a pulse shape discriminator are suitable for the neutron-gamma discriminating system. The influence of the constant fraction discriminator threshold energy on the neutron-gamma resolution properties is shown. The neutron-gamma timing distributions from an 241 Am-Be source, 2.5 MeV neutron beam and 14 MeV neutron beam are presented

Triple pulse shape discrimination and capture-gated spectroscopy in a composite heterogeneous scintillator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharma, M., E-mail: mksharma@umich.edu [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Nattress, J. [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Wilhelm, K. [Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Jovanovic, I. [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)

2017-06-11

We demonstrate an all-solid-state design for a composite heterogeneous scintillation detector sensitive to interactions with high-energy photons (gammas), fast neutrons, and thermal neutrons. The scintillator exhibits triple pulse shape discrimination, effectively separating electron recoils, fast neutron recoils, and neutron captures. This is accomplished by combining the properties of two distinct scintillators, whereby a 51-mm diameter, 51-mm tall cylinder of pulse shape discriminating plastic is wrapped by a 320-µm thick sheet of {sup 6}LiF:ZnS(Ag), optically coupling the scintillators to each other and to the photomultiplier tube. In this way, the sensitivity to neutron captures is achieved without the need to load the plastic scintillator with a capture agent. We demonstrate a figure of merit of up to 1.2 for fast neutrons/gammas and 5.7 for thermal neutrons/gammas. Intrinsic capture efficiency is found to be 0.46±0.05% and is in good agreement with simulation, while gamma rejection was 10{sup −6} with respect to the capture region and 10{sup −4} with respect to the recoil region using a 300 keVee threshold. Finally, we show an improvement in capture-gated neutron spectroscopy by rejecting accidental gamma coincidences using pulse shape discrimination in the plastic scintillator.

The monolithic double-threshold discriminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baturitsky, M.A.; Dvornikov, O.V.

1999-01-01

A double-threshold discriminator capable of processing input signals of different duration is described. Simplicity of the discriminator circuitry makes it possible to embody the discriminator in multichannel ICs using microwave bipolar-JFET technology. Time walk is calculated to be less than 0.35 ns for the input ramp signals with rise times 25-100 ns and amplitudes 50 mV-1 V

Multivariate analysis methods to tag b quark events at LEP/SLC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brandl, B.; Falvard, A.; Guicheney, C.; Henrard, P.; Jousset, J.; Proriol, J.

1992-01-01

Multivariate analyses are applied to tag Z → bb-bar events at LEP/SLC. They are based on the specific b-event shape caused by the large b-quark mass. Discriminant analyses, classification trees and neural networks are presented and their performances are compared. It is shown that the neural network approach, due to its non-linearity, copes best with the complexity of the problem. As an example for an application of the developed methods the measurement of Γ(Z → bb-bar) is discussed. The usefulness of methods based on the global event shape is limited by the uncertainties introduced by the necessity of event simulation. As solution a double tag method is presented which can be applied to many tasks of LEP/SLC heavy flavour physics. (author) 29 refs.; 6 figs.; 1 tab

Event display of a H -> 2e2mu candidate event

CERN Multimedia

ATLAS, Collaboration

2012-01-01

Event display of a H -> 2e2mu candidate event with m(4l) = 122.6 (123.9) GeV without (with) Z mass constraint. The masses of the lepton pairs are 87.9 GeV and 19.6 GeV. The event was recorded by ATLAS on 18-Jun-2012, 11:07:47 CEST in run number 205113 as event number 12611816. Muon tracks are colored red, electron tracks and clusters in the LAr calorimeter are colored green. The Lego plot inset indicates the amount of transverse energy Et measured in the calorimeters. The second inset shows a zoom into the vertex region, indicating that the 4 leptons originate from the same primary vertex.

Event Shape Analysis in ALICE

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2073367; Paic, Guy

2009-01-01

The jets are the final state manifestation of the hard parton scattering. Since at LHC energies the production of hard processes in proton-proton collisions will be copious and varied, it is important to develop methods to identify them through the study of their final states. In the present work we describe a method based on the use of some shape variables to discriminate events according their topologies. A very attractive feature of this analysis is the possibility of using the tracking information of the TPC+ITS in order to identify specific events like jets. Through the correlation between the quantities: thrust and recoil, calculated in minimum bias simulations of proton-proton collisions at 10 TeV, we show the sensitivity of the method to select specific topologies and high multiplicity. The presented results were obtained both at level generator and after reconstruction. It remains that with any kind of jet reconstruction algorithm one will confronted in general with overlapping jets. The present meth...

Age discrimination in the workplace: validation of the Nordic Age Discrimination Scale (NADS).

Science.gov (United States)

Furunes, Trude; Mykletun, Reidar J

2010-02-01

Due to population ageing, older workers will make up a larger proportion of the workforce. However, recent reports show an increase in perceived age discrimination among older employees. Previous research found that age discrimination may result in negative feelings, such as uselessness, powerlessness and lower self-esteem. This study develops and validates a scale for monitoring age discrimination in the workplace. The validation study draws on three datasets, from Norway, Sweden and Finland respectively. The study provides a psychometric contribution to the study of the behavioral component of ageism.

Prevalence of harassment and discrimination among residents in three training hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Fnais, Naif; al-Nasser, Muhammad; Zamakhshary, Mohammad; Abuznadah, Wesam; Dhukair, Shahla Al; Saadeh, Mayssa; Al-Qarni, Ali; Bokhari, Bayan; Alshaeri, Taqreed; Aboalsamh, Nouf; Binahmed, AbdulAziz

2013-01-01

Multiple surveys of medical residents have shown a high incidence of harassment and discrimination in academic health centers. Harassment has a negative effects on residents' health and on their ability to function. No previous study has documented the prevalence of harassment and discrimination among residents in Saudi Arabia. We aimed in this study to assess the prevalence of harassment and discrimination among residents at a tertiary care academic hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Cross-sectional survey conducted at National Guard Hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Ahsa'a from 27 July to 20 August 2010. The survey included questions on the prevalence of harassment of different types, inlcuding verbal, academic, physical and sexual harassment, as well as discrimination on the basis of gender, region of origin or physical appearance. Of 380 residents, 213 (56%) returned a completed questionnaire (123 male, 57.8%). At least one of type of harassment and discrimination was reported by 83.6% of respondents. The most frequently reported forms were verbal harassment and gender discrimination (61.5% and 58.3%, respectively). Sexual harassment was commonly reported (19.3%) and was experienced significantly more often by female residents than by male residents (P=.0061). Harassment and discrimination of Saudi residents is common with more than three-quarters reporting having had such an experience. Identification of the risk factors is a necessary first step in clarifying this issue and could be used when planning strategies for prevention.

Evaluating the feasibility of using candidate DNA barcodes in discriminating species of the large Asteraceae family

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Chang

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Five DNA regions, namely, rbcL, matK, ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH, have been recommended as primary DNA barcodes for plants. Studies evaluating these regions for species identification in the large plant taxon, which includes a large number of closely related species, have rarely been reported. Results The feasibility of using the five proposed DNA regions was tested for discriminating plant species within Asteraceae, the largest family of flowering plants. Among these markers, ITS2 was the most useful in terms of universality, sequence variation, and identification capability in the Asteraceae family. The species discriminating power of ITS2 was also explored in a large pool of 3,490 Asteraceae sequences that represent 2,315 species belonging to 494 different genera. The result shows that ITS2 correctly identified 76.4% and 97.4% of plant samples at the species and genus levels, respectively. In addition, ITS2 displayed a variable ability to discriminate related species within different genera. Conclusions ITS2 is the best DNA barcode for the Asteraceae family. This approach significantly broadens the application of DNA barcoding to resolve classification problems in the family Asteraceae at the genera and species levels.

Reduced Discrimination in the Tritanopic Confusion Line for Congenital Color Deficiency Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Marcelo F; Goulart, Paulo R K; Barboni, Mirella T S; Ventura, Dora F

2016-01-01

In congenital color blindness the red-green discrimination is impaired resulting in an increased confusion between those colors with yellow. Our post-receptoral physiological mechanisms are organized in two pathways for color perception, a red-green (protanopic and deuteranopic) and a blue-yellow (tritanopic). We argue that the discrimination losses in the yellow area in congenital color vision deficiency subjects could generate a subtle loss of discriminability in the tritanopic channel considering discrepancies with yellow perception. We measured color discrimination thresholds for blue and yellow of tritanopic channel in congenital color deficiency subjects. Chromaticity thresholds were measured around a white background (0.1977 u', 0.4689 v' in the CIE 1976) consisting of a blue-white and white-yellow thresholds in a tritanopic color confusion line of 21 congenital colorblindness subjects (mean age = 27.7; SD = 5.6 years; 14 deuteranomalous and 7 protanomalous) and of 82 (mean age = 25.1; SD = 3.7 years) normal color vision subjects. Significant increase in the whole tritanopic axis was found for both deuteranomalous and protanomalous subjects compared to controls for the blue-white (F 2,100 = 18.80; p color confusion axis is significantly reduced in congenital color vision deficiency compared to normal subjects. Since yellow discrimination was impaired the balance of the blue-yellow channels is impaired justifying the increased thresholds found for blue-white discrimination. The weighting toward the yellow region of the color space with the deuteranomalous contributing to that perceptual distortion is discussed in terms of physiological mechanisms.

The atmospheric signal of terrestrial carbon isotopic discrimination and its implication for partitioning carbon fluxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, John B.; Tans, Pieter P.; Conway, Thomas J.; White, James W.C.; Vaughn, Bruce W.

2003-01-01

The 13 C/ 12 C ratio in atmospheric carbon dioxide has been measured in samples taken in the NOAA/CMDL network since 1991. By examining the relationship between weekly anomalies in 13 C and CO 2 at continental sites in the network, we infer temporal and spatial values for the isotopic signature of terrestrial CO 2 fluxes. We can convert these isotopic signatures to values of discrimination if we assume the atmospheric starting point for photosynthesis. The average discrimination in the Northern Hemisphere between 30 and 50 deg N is calculated to be 16.6 ± 0.2 per mil. In contrast to some earlier modeling studies, we find no strong latitudinal gradient in discrimination. However, we do observe that discrimination in Eurasia is larger than in North America, which is consistent with two modeling studies. We also observe a possible trend in the North American average of discrimination toward less discrimination. There is no apparent trend in the Eurasian average or at any individual sites. However, there is interannual variability on the order of 2 per mil at several sites and regions. Finally, we calculate the northern temperate terrestrial CO 2 flux replacing our previous discrimination values of about 18 per mil with the average value of 16.6 calculated in this study. We find this enhances the terrestrial sink by about 0.4 GtC/yr

Discrimination Against Migrant Workers in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Badarulzaman, Muhammad Hafiz; Ayub, Zainal A; Yusoff, Zuryati M; Wahab, Harlida A

2016-01-01

AbstractMigrant workers are often discriminated against in almost every aspect of life. Discrimination against them is due to irrational dislike of them and also negative perception towards them. It is alleged that migrant workers contribute to the crimes hike in Malaysia. Using doctrinal research methodology, this article discusses direct and perceptive discrimination against them. This article concludes that physical discriminations are mostly happened because ineffective enforcement of the...

Comparative Analysis of Three Brevetoxin-Associated Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Mortality Events in the Florida Panhandle Region (USA)

Science.gov (United States)

Twiner, Michael J.; Flewelling, Leanne J.; Fire, Spencer E.; Bowen-Stevens, Sabrina R.; Gaydos, Joseph K.; Johnson, Christine K.; Landsberg, Jan H.; Leighfield, Tod A.; Mase-Guthrie, Blair; Schwacke, Lori; Van Dolah, Frances M.; Wang, Zhihong; Rowles, Teresa K.

2012-01-01

In the Florida Panhandle region, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have been highly susceptible to large-scale unusual mortality events (UMEs) that may have been the result of exposure to blooms of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis and its neurotoxin, brevetoxin (PbTx). Between 1999 and 2006, three bottlenose dolphin UMEs occurred in the Florida Panhandle region. The primary objective of this study was to determine if these mortality events were due to brevetoxicosis. Analysis of over 850 samples from 105 bottlenose dolphins and associated prey items were analyzed for algal toxins and have provided details on tissue distribution, pathways of trophic transfer, and spatial-temporal trends for each mortality event. In 1999/2000, 152 dolphins died following extensive K. brevis blooms and brevetoxin was detected in 52% of animals tested at concentrations up to 500 ng/g. In 2004, 105 bottlenose dolphins died in the absence of an identifiable K. brevis bloom; however, 100% of the tested animals were positive for brevetoxin at concentrations up to 29,126 ng/mL. Dolphin stomach contents frequently consisted of brevetoxin-contaminated menhaden. In addition, another potentially toxigenic algal species, Pseudo-nitzschia, was present and low levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) were detected in nearly all tested animals (89%). In 2005/2006, 90 bottlenose dolphins died that were initially coincident with high densities of K. brevis. Most (93%) of the tested animals were positive for brevetoxin at concentrations up to 2,724 ng/mL. No DA was detected in these animals despite the presence of an intense DA-producing Pseudo-nitzschia bloom. In contrast to the absence or very low levels of brevetoxins measured in live dolphins, and those stranding in the absence of a K. brevis bloom, these data, taken together with the absence of any other obvious pathology, provide strong evidence that brevetoxin was the causative agent involved in these bottlenose dolphin mortality

Comparative analysis of three brevetoxin-associated bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus mortality events in the Florida Panhandle region (USA.