The effect of self-monitoring on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Lucy J; Gray, John M; Ferrier, I Nicol; Gallagher, Peter

2016-05-01

Euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) show executive impairment. Assisting cognitive function with non-pharmacological strategies has not been widely explored in BD. In schizophrenia, concomitant verbalisation (self-monitoring) during executive tests improved performance. The present pilot study assesses the effects of self-monitoring whilst completing the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in BD patients. Thirty-six euthymic BD patients and 42 healthy controls participated. Twenty patients with BD and 20 controls received standard administration and 16 patients and 22 controls used self-monitoring during the test. ANCOVA revealed a significant "group by administration" interaction. Patients who received the standard administration were significantly worse than healthy controls (trials administered: p = .012, η p (2) = 0.17; trials to first category: p = .046, η p (2) = 0.11; failure to maintain set: p = .003, η p (2) = 0.23). BD patients who self-monitored performed significantly better than patients receiving the standard administration (trials to first category: p = .020, η p (2) = 0.17) and showed no significant differences in performance compared to controls. Self-monitoring deserves further investigation as a tool that may be helpful for patients with BD. Further exploration of the utility, generalisability, and stability of the effects of self-monitoring is needed.

Modulatory effects of psychopathy on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in male offenders with Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Pera-Guardiola, Vanessa; Batalla, Iolanda; Bosque, Javier; Kosson, David; Pifarré, Josep; Hernández-Ribas, Rosa; Goldberg, Ximena; Contreras-Rodríguez, Oren; Menchón, José M; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Cardoner, Narcís

2016-01-30

Neuropsychological deficits in executive functions (EF) have been linked to antisocial behavior and considered to be cardinal to the onset and persistence of severe antisocial and aggressive behavior. However, when psychopathy is present, prior evidence suggests that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is unaffected leading to intact EF. Ninety-one male offenders with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and 24 controls completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). ASPD individuals were grouped in three categories according to Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) scores (low, medium and high). We hypothesized that ASPD offenders with high PCL-R scores will not differ from healthy controls in EF and will show better EF performance in comparison with subjects with low PCL-R scores. Results showed that ASPD offenders with low PCL-R scores committed more perseverative errors and responses than controls and offenders with high PCL-R scores, which did not differ from healthy controls. Moreover, scores on Factor 1 and the interpersonal facet of the PCL-R were predictors of better WCST performance. Our results suggest a modulatory role of psychopathy in the cognitive performance of ASPD offenders, and provide further evidence supporting that offenders with ASPD and psychopathy are characterized by a cognitive profile different from those with ASPD without psychopathy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Unsupervised Online Spike-Sorting Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Knieling, Simeon; Sridharan, Kousik S; Belardinelli, Paolo; Naros, Georgios; Weiss, Daniel; Mormann, Florian; Gharabaghi, Alireza

2016-08-01

Extracellular neuronal microelectrode recordings can include action potentials from multiple neurons. To separate spikes from different neurons, they can be sorted according to their shape, a procedure referred to as spike-sorting. Several algorithms have been reported to solve this task. However, when clustering outcomes are unsatisfactory, most of them are difficult to adjust to achieve the desired results. We present an online spike-sorting framework that uses feature normalization and weighting to maximize the distinctiveness between different spike shapes. Furthermore, multiple criteria are applied to either facilitate or prevent cluster fusion, thereby enabling experimenters to fine-tune the sorting process. We compare our method to established unsupervised offline (Wave_Clus (WC)) and online (OSort (OS)) algorithms by examining their performance in sorting various test datasets using two different scoring systems (AMI and the Adamos metric). Furthermore, we evaluate sorting capabilities on intra-operative recordings using established quality metrics. Compared to WC and OS, our algorithm achieved comparable or higher scores on average and produced more convincing sorting results for intra-operative datasets. Thus, the presented framework is suitable for both online and offline analysis and could substantially improve the quality of microelectrode-based data evaluation for research and clinical application.

The effect of verbalization strategy on wisconsin card sorting test performance in schizophrenic patients receiving classical or atypical antipsychotics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cavallaro Roberto

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits thanks to the use of 'information processing strategies'. Moreover the impact of antipsychotics on cognitive functions of the schizophrenics is an important issue, especially if an integrated psychosocial treatment is needed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate different executive performance and response to verbalization, a strategy of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST remediation, in subjects on classical vs atypical antipsychotic (AP treatment. Methods Sixty-three schizophrenic subjects undertook the WCST under standard and modified (verbalization administration. Subjects were stratified by the kind of WCST response (i.e. good, poor and remediable and AP treatment (i.e. atypical vs. classical. Results Subjects on atypical APs showed a better performance than those on classical ones. More poor performers who did not remediate were seen in the sample with classical Aps while subjects who remediated the performance were seen in the subgroup with atypical APs only. An increase of perseverative and total errors was seen in poor performers subjects on classical APs. Conclusion Subjects on atypicals showed a better cognitive pattern in terms of WCST performance. Since the naturalistic assignment of medication we cannot draw conclusions about its effect on cognitive performance and its interaction with cognitive remediation potential. However the data lead us to hypothesize that subjects with potential room for remediation did so with the atypical APs.

Unsupervised spike sorting based on discriminative subspace learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Keshtkaran, Mohammad Reza; Yang, Zhi

2014-01-01

Spike sorting is a fundamental preprocessing step for many neuroscience studies which rely on the analysis of spike trains. In this paper, we present two unsupervised spike sorting algorithms based on discriminative subspace learning. The first algorithm simultaneously learns the discriminative feature subspace and performs clustering. It uses histogram of features in the most discriminative projection to detect the number of neurons. The second algorithm performs hierarchical divisive clustering that learns a discriminative 1-dimensional subspace for clustering in each level of the hierarchy until achieving almost unimodal distribution in the subspace. The algorithms are tested on synthetic and in-vivo data, and are compared against two widely used spike sorting methods. The comparative results demonstrate that our spike sorting methods can achieve substantially higher accuracy in lower dimensional feature space, and they are highly robust to noise. Moreover, they provide significantly better cluster separability in the learned subspace than in the subspace obtained by principal component analysis or wavelet transform.

New age radiometric ore sorting - the elegant solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gordon, H.P.; Heuer, T.

2000-01-01

Radiometric ore sorting technology and application are described in two parts. Part I reviews the history of radiometric sorting in the minerals industry and describes the latest developments in radiometric sorting technology. Part II describes the history, feasibility study and approach used in the application of the new technology at Rossing Uranium Limited. There has been little progress in the field of radiometric sorting since the late 1970s. This has changed with the development of a high capacity radiometric sorter designed to operate on low-grade ore in the +75mm / -300mm size fraction. This has been designed specifically for an application at Rossing. Rossing has a long history in radiometric sorting dating back to 1968 when initial tests were conducted on the Rossing prospect. Past feasibility studies concluded that radiometric sorting would not conclusively reduce the unit cost of production unless sorting was used to increase production levels. The current feasibility study shows that the application of new radiometric sorter technology makes sorting viable without increasing production, and significantly more attractive with increased production. A pilot approach to confirm sorter performance is described. (author)

Executive function is less sensitive to estradiol than spatial memory: performance on an analog of the card sorting test in ovariectomized aged rhesus monkeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacreuse, A; Chhabra, R K; Hall, M J; Herndon, J G

2004-09-30

Functions supported by the frontal lobes are particularly sensitive to the detrimental effects of aging. Recent studies on postmenopausal women find that estrogen replacement therapy benefits performance on tasks dependent on the frontal lobes. To determine whether estrogen has a similar influence in a rhesus monkey model of menopause, we tested five aged, long-term ovariectomized rhesus monkeys in a modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sort test which had been adapted to the nonhuman primate. In this test, monkeys had to select 3-D objects based either on color (blue, red, yellow) or shape (block, tube, cup) and had to be able to switch their response as a function of reinforcement contingencies. The monkeys were treated with placebo and ethinyl estradiol (EE2, 450 ng/kg/day) in alternation with each successive test. Contrary to our hypothesis, estradiol treatment did not affect performance. Because previous studies in the same monkeys [Neurobiol. Aging 23 (2002) 589] had shown that EE2 improves performance on a spatial memory task dependent on the hippocampus, but not on another task dependent upon the frontal lobes (the delayed response), we conclude that executive processes may be less sensitive to the effects of estradiol than hippocampal-dependent tasks.

Perbandingan Kecepatan Gabungan Algoritma Quick Sort dan Merge Sort dengan Insertion Sort, Bubble Sort dan Selection Sort

OpenAIRE

Al Rivan, Muhammad Ezar

2017-01-01

Ordering is one of the process done before doing data processing. The sorting algorithm has its own strengths and weaknesses. By taking strengths of each algorithm then combined can be a better algorithm. Quick Sort and Merge Sort are algorithms that divide the data into parts and each part divide again into sub-section until one element. Usually one element join with others and then sorted by. In this experiment data divide into parts that have size not more than threshold. This part then so...

Comparing the executive function of patients with schizophrenia, acute/chronic type I disorder (manic episode, and healthy controls on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Continuous Performance Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Zare

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: From among various cognitive deficits, deficits in executive processes have an effective role in limiting the patients’ ability to retain, acquire, and re-learn the skills necessary for real-life performance. Thus, the present study aimed to compare the executive function of patients with schizophrenia, acute/chronic type I disorder, and the healthy group. Methods: The present research was an analytical-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of all the outpatients and inpatients with acute/chronic schizophrenia and acute/chronic type I disorder (manic episode visiting Shafa Psychiatric Hospital, Rasht, Iran. Using convenience sampling, 60 male subjects aging 18-49 years old were selected in 2014-2015. They were matched for the variables of sex, age, and education level. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Continuous Performance Test, and Raven’s Progressive Matrices were administered, and the data were analyzed using MANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test. Results: A significant difference was observed between the acute/chronic schizophrenia group, acute/chronic type I disorder (manic episode, and healthy group on the two tests. Patients with schizophrenia had a weaker executive function and attention deficit compared to those with type I disorder and the healthy group (P0.05. Conclusion: Both schizophrenia and type I disorder patients show deficits in executive function and attention. However, the former group manifests higher impairment in cognitive activities, concept formation, cognitive flexibility, and attention deficit.

Competition, Student Sorting and Performance in Local Education Markets: The Dutch Secondary Sector.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cabus, Sofie; Cornelisz, Ilja

2017-01-01

This article empirically examines the implications of competition among Dutch secondary schools: (1) regarding the sorting of students by performance levels in schools at the begiining of secondary education; and (2) regarding performance gains in the secondary school career, controlling for the

Performance evaluation of PCA-based spike sorting algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Adamos, Dimitrios A; Kosmidis, Efstratios K; Theophilidis, George

2008-09-01

Deciphering the electrical activity of individual neurons from multi-unit noisy recordings is critical for understanding complex neural systems. A widely used spike sorting algorithm is being evaluated for single-electrode nerve trunk recordings. The algorithm is based on principal component analysis (PCA) for spike feature extraction. In the neuroscience literature it is generally assumed that the use of the first two or most commonly three principal components is sufficient. We estimate the optimum PCA-based feature space by evaluating the algorithm's performance on simulated series of action potentials. A number of modifications are made to the open source nev2lkit software to enable systematic investigation of the parameter space. We introduce a new metric to define clustering error considering over-clustering more favorable than under-clustering as proposed by experimentalists for our data. Both the program patch and the metric are available online. Correlated and white Gaussian noise processes are superimposed to account for biological and artificial jitter in the recordings. We report that the employment of more than three principal components is in general beneficial for all noise cases considered. Finally, we apply our results to experimental data and verify that the sorting process with four principal components is in agreement with a panel of electrophysiology experts.

Performance comparison of extracellular spike sorting algorithms for single-channel recordings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wild, Jiri; Prekopcsak, Zoltan; Sieger, Tomas; Novak, Daniel; Jech, Robert

2012-01-30

Proper classification of action potentials from extracellular recordings is essential for making an accurate study of neuronal behavior. Many spike sorting algorithms have been presented in the technical literature. However, no comparative analysis has hitherto been performed. In our study, three widely-used publicly-available spike sorting algorithms (WaveClus, KlustaKwik, OSort) were compared with regard to their parameter settings. The algorithms were evaluated using 112 artificial signals (publicly available online) with 2-9 different neurons and varying noise levels between 0.00 and 0.60. An optimization technique based on Adjusted Mutual Information was employed to find near-optimal parameter settings for a given artificial signal and algorithm. All three algorithms performed significantly better (psorting algorithm, receiving the best evaluation score for 60% of all signals. OSort operated at almost five times the speed of the other algorithms. In terms of accuracy, OSort performed significantly less well (palgorithms was optimal in general. The accuracy of the algorithms depended on proper choice of the algorithm parameters and also on specific properties of the examined signal. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parallel integer sorting with medium and fine-scale parallelism

Science.gov (United States)

Dagum, Leonardo

1993-01-01

Two new parallel integer sorting algorithms, queue-sort and barrel-sort, are presented and analyzed in detail. These algorithms do not have optimal parallel complexity, yet they show very good performance in practice. Queue-sort designed for fine-scale parallel architectures which allow the queueing of multiple messages to the same destination. Barrel-sort is designed for medium-scale parallel architectures with a high message passing overhead. The performance results from the implementation of queue-sort on a Connection Machine CM-2 and barrel-sort on a 128 processor iPSC/860 are given. The two implementations are found to be comparable in performance but not as good as a fully vectorized bucket sort on the Cray YMP.

LazySorted: A Lazily, Partially Sorted Python List

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naftali Harris

2015-06-01

Full Text Available LazySorted is a Python C extension implementing a partially and lazily sorted list data structure. It solves a common problem faced by programmers, in which they need just part of a sorted list, like its middle element (the median, but sort the entire list to get it. LazySorted presents them with the abstraction that they are working with a fully sorted list, while actually only sorting the list partially with quicksort partitions to return the requested sub-elements. This enables programmers to use naive "sort first" algorithms but nonetheless attain linear run-times when possible. LazySorted may serve as a drop-in replacement for the built-in sorted function in most cases, and can sometimes achieve run-times more than 7 times faster.

Real-time implementation of a color sorting system

Science.gov (United States)

Srikanteswara, Srikathyanyani; Lu, Qiang O.; King, William; Drayer, Thomas H.; Conners, Richard W.; Kline, D. Earl; Araman, Philip A.

1997-09-01

Wood edge glued panels are used extensively in the furniture and cabinetry industries. They are used to make doors, tops, and sides of solid wood furniture and cabinets. Since lightly stained furniture and cabinets are gaining in popularity, there is an increasing demand to color sort the parts used to make these edge glued panels. The goal of the sorting processing is to create panels that are uniform in both color and intensity across their visible surface. If performed manually, the color sorting of edge-glued panel parts is very labor intensive and prone to error. This paper describes a complete machine vision system for performing this sort. This system uses two color line scan cameras for image input and a specially designed custom computing machine to allow real-time implementation. Users define the number of color classes that are to be used. An 'out' class is provided to handle unusually colored parts. The system removes areas of character mark, e.g., knots, mineral streak, etc., from consideration when assigning a color class to a part. The system also includes a better face algorithm for determining which part face would be the better to put on the side of the panel that will show. The throughput is two linear feet per second. Only a four inch between part spacing is required. This system has undergone extensive in plant testing and will be commercially available in the very near future. The results of this testing will be presented.

Latent structure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: a confirmatory factor analytic study.

Science.gov (United States)

Greve, Kevin W; Stickle, Timothy R; Love, Jeffrey M; Bianchini, Kevin J; Stanford, Matthew S

2005-05-01

The present study represents the first large scale confirmatory factor analysis of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The results generally support the three factor solutions reported in the exploratory factor analysis literature. However, only the first factor, which reflects general executive functioning, is statistically sound. The secondary factors, while likely reflecting meaningful cognitive abilities, are less stable except when all subjects complete all 128 cards. It is likely that having two discontinuation rules for the WCST has contributed to the varied factor analytic solutions reported in the literature and early discontinuation may result in some loss of useful information. Continued multivariate research will be necessary to better clarify the processes underlying WCST performance and their relationships to one another.

Performance comparison analysis library communication cluster system using merge sort

Science.gov (United States)

Wulandari, D. A. R.; Ramadhan, M. E.

2018-04-01

Begins by using a single processor, to increase the speed of computing time, the use of multi-processor was introduced. The second paradigm is known as parallel computing, example cluster. The cluster must have the communication potocol for processing, one of it is message passing Interface (MPI). MPI have many library, both of them OPENMPI and MPICH2. Performance of the cluster machine depend on suitable between performance characters of library communication and characters of the problem so this study aims to analyze the comparative performances libraries in handling parallel computing process. The case study in this research are MPICH2 and OpenMPI. This case research execute sorting’s problem to know the performance of cluster system. The sorting problem use mergesort method. The research method is by implementing OpenMPI and MPICH2 on a Linux-based cluster by using five computer virtual then analyze the performance of the system by different scenario tests and three parameters for to know the performance of MPICH2 and OpenMPI. These performances are execution time, speedup and efficiency. The results of this study showed that the addition of each data size makes OpenMPI and MPICH2 have an average speed-up and efficiency tend to increase but at a large data size decreases. increased data size doesn’t necessarily increased speed up and efficiency but only execution time example in 100000 data size. OpenMPI has a execution time greater than MPICH2 example in 1000 data size average execution time with MPICH2 is 0,009721 and OpenMPI is 0,003895 OpenMPI can customize communication needs.

Enhancement of Selection, Bubble and Insertion Sorting Algorithm

OpenAIRE

Muhammad Farooq Umar; Ehsan Ullah Munir; Shafqat Ali Shad; Muhammad Wasif Nisar

2014-01-01

In everyday life there is a large amount of data to arrange because sorting removes any ambiguities and make the data analysis and data processing very easy, efficient and provides with cost less effort. In this study a set of improved sorting algorithms are proposed which gives better performance and design idea. In this study five new sorting algorithms (Bi-directional Selection Sort, Bi-directional bubble sort, MIDBiDirectional Selection Sort, MIDBidirectional bubble sort and linear insert...

The Multidimensional Influence of Acculturation on Digit Symbol-Coding and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Hispanics.

Science.gov (United States)

Krch, Denise; Lequerica, Anthony; Arango-Lasprilla, Juan Carlos; Rogers, Heather L; DeLuca, John; Chiaravalloti, Nancy D

2015-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relative contribution of acculturation to two tests of nonverbal test performance in Hispanics. This study compared 40 Hispanic and 20 non-Hispanic whites on Digit Symbol-Coding (DSC) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and evaluated the relative contribution of the various acculturation components to cognitive test performance in the Hispanic group. Hispanics performed significantly worse on DSC and WCST relative to non-Hispanic whites. Multiple regressions conducted within the Hispanic group revealed that language use uniquely accounted for 11.0% of the variance on the DSC, 18.8% of the variance on WCST categories completed, and 13.0% of the variance in perseverative errors on the WCST. Additionally, years of education in the United States uniquely accounted for 14.9% of the variance in DSC. The significant impact of acculturation on DSC and WCST lends support that nonverbal cognitive tests are not necessarily culture free. The differential contribution of acculturation proxies highlights the importance of considering these separate components when interpreting performance on neuropsychological tests in clinical and research settings. Factors, such as the country where education was received, may in fact be more meaningful information than the years of education of education attained. Thus, acculturation should be considered an important factor in any cognitive evaluation of culturally diverse individuals.

High performance transistors via aligned polyfluorene-sorted carbon nanotubes

Science.gov (United States)

Brady, Gerald J.; Joo, Yongho; Singha Roy, Susmit; Gopalan, Padma; Arnold, Michael S.

2014-02-01

We evaluate the performance of exceptionally electronic-type sorted, semiconducting, aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) in field effect transistors (FETs). High on-conductance and high on/off conductance modulation are simultaneously achieved at channel lengths which are both shorter and longer than individual s-SWCNTs. The s-SWCNTs are isolated from heterogeneous mixtures using a polyfluorene-derivative as a selective agent and aligned on substrates via dose-controlled, floating evaporative self-assembly at densities of ˜50 s-SWCNTs μm-1. At a channel length of 9 μm the s-SWCNTs percolate to span the FET channel, and the on/off ratio and charge transport mobility are 2.2 × 107 and 46 cm2 V-1 s-1, respectively. At a channel length of 400 nm, a large fraction of the s-SWCNTs directly span the channel, and the on-conductance per width is 61 μS μm-1 and the on/off ratio is 4 × 105. These results are considerably better than previous solution-processed FETs, which have suffered from poor on/off ratio due to spurious metallic nanotubes that bridge the channel. 4071 individual and small bundles of s-SWCNTs are tested in 400 nm channel length FETs, and all show semiconducting behavior, demonstrating the high fidelity of polyfluorenes as selective agents and the promise of assembling s-SWCNTs from solution to create high performance semiconductor electronic devices.

Data parallel sorting for particle simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Dagum, Leonardo

1992-01-01

Sorting on a parallel architecture is a communications intensive event which can incur a high penalty in applications where it is required. In the case of particle simulation, only integer sorting is necessary, and sequential implementations easily attain the minimum performance bound of O (N) for N particles. Parallel implementations, however, have to cope with the parallel sorting problem which, in addition to incurring a heavy communications cost, can make the minimun performance bound difficult to attain. This paper demonstrates how the sorting problem in a particle simulation can be reduced to a merging problem, and describes an efficient data parallel algorithm to solve this merging problem in a particle simulation. The new algorithm is shown to be optimal under conditions usual for particle simulation, and its fieldwise implementation on the Connection Machine is analyzed in detail. The new algorithm is about four times faster than a fieldwise implementation of radix sort on the Connection Machine.

Relationship between 99mTc-ECD SPECT images and performance of the Wisconsin card sorting test in healthy humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jinhua; Lin Xiangtong; Guan Yihui; Xu Lianqin; Zhang Guangming; Xue Fangpeng

1998-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between 99m Tc-ECD SPECT and performance of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in normal young and aged volunteers through the semi-quantitative analysis of the baseline and cognition activated rCBF images. Methods: 18 young and 17 aged volunteers were enrolled. The education level of the two groups was matched. All subjects were healthy and CT results of all the aged volunteers were normal. Both baseline and cognition activated 99m Tc-ECD SPECT were performed on all the subjects. The cognition activated brain SPECT: The cognitive task was WCST. 1110 MBq 99m Tc-ECD was administered by intravenous bolus injection 5 minutes after the onset of the WCST. The images were reconstructed and semiquantitatively analyzed. WCST were scored through 9 items: 1) period, 2) categories, 3) total corrects, 4) conceptual level (%), 5) perseverative responses, 6) total errors, 7) perseverative errors, 8) perseverative error (%), 9) non-perseverative errors. Results: 1) Compared with the baseline, the activated rCBF values of frontal, left temporal and left parietal lobes were higher in young subjects. 2) The activated rCBF values of right frontal lobe is slightly higher than those of baseline in aged group. 3) WCST scores: the young had significantly better scores than the aged in 7 items. 4) The baseline and activated rCBF values of the frontal lobes and anterior cingule were closely related to the scores of categories, perseverative responses, total errors and non-perseverative errors. Conclusions: 1) The distribution patterns of 99m Tc-ECD are different between young and aged volunteers. 2) The performance of WCST mainly relates to frontal lobes. The mild hypoperfusion of the frontal lobe in aged group may be the cause of poor conceptual and thinking ability. 3) First found the significant correlation between anterior cingule and performance of WCST

Verification of counting sort and radix sort

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.P.T. de Gouw (Stijn); F.S. de Boer (Frank); J.C. Rot (Jurriaan)

2016-01-01

textabstractSorting is an important algorithmic task used in many applications. Two main aspects of sorting algorithms which have been studied extensively are complexity and correctness. [Foley and Hoare, 1971] published the first formal correctness proof of a sorting algorithm (Quicksort). While

Cache-Aware and Cache-Oblivious Adaptive Sorting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Fagerberg, Rolf; Moruz, Gabriel

2005-01-01

Two new adaptive sorting algorithms are introduced which perform an optimal number of comparisons with respect to the number of inversions in the input. The first algorithm is based on a new linear time reduction to (non-adaptive) sorting. The second algorithm is based on a new division protocol...... for the GenericSort algorithm by Estivill-Castro and Wood. From both algorithms we derive I/O-optimal cache-aware and cache-oblivious adaptive sorting algorithms. These are the first I/O-optimal adaptive sorting algorithms....

ScanSort{sup SM} at Whiteshell Laboratories for sorting of experimental cesium pond soil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Downey, H., E-mail: heath.downey@amecfw.com [Amec Foster Wheeler, Portland, ME (United States)

2015-07-01

The ScanSort{sup SM} soil sorting system is a unique and efficient radiological instrument used for measuring and sorting bulk soils and volumetric materials. The system performs automatic radioassay and segregation of preconditioned material using a gamma spectroscopy system mounted above a conveyor belt. It was deployed to the Whiteshell Laboratories site to process the excavated soils generated during the decommissioning of the former Experimental Cesium Pond. The ScanSort{sup SM} system was utilized to segregate material with Cs-137 concentrations above the established site unrestricted release and restricted site reuse levels as well as demonstrated the ability to accurately determine the radioactivity concentrations of the radiologically-impacted material and to confidently segregate volumes of that material for appropriate final disposition. (author)

Insight, Neurocognition, and Schizophrenia: Predictive Value of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Science.gov (United States)

Yanos, Philip T.

2013-01-01

Lack of insight in schizophrenia is a key feature of the illness and is associated with both positive and negative clinical outcomes. Previous research supports that neurocognitive dysfunction is related to lack of insight, but studies have not examined how neurocognition relates to change in insight over time. Therefore, the current study sought to understand how performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) differed between participants with varying degrees of change in insight over a 6-month period. Fifty-two patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were administered the WCST and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at baseline, and the PANSS was again administered at a 6-month follow-up assessment. Results indicated that while neurocognition was related to insight at baseline, it was not related to subsequent change in insight. The implications of findings for conceptualization and assessment of insight are discussed. PMID:24303216

Robust spike sorting of retinal ganglion cells tuned to spot stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghahari, Alireza; Badea, Tudor C

2016-08-01

We propose an automatic spike sorting approach for the data recorded from a microelectrode array during visual stimulation of wild type retinas with tiled spot stimuli. The approach first detects individual spikes per electrode by their signature local minima. With the mixture probability distribution of the local minima estimated afterwards, it applies a minimum-squared-error clustering algorithm to sort the spikes into different clusters. A template waveform for each cluster per electrode is defined, and a number of reliability tests are performed on it and its corresponding spikes. Finally, a divisive hierarchical clustering algorithm is used to deal with the correlated templates per cluster type across all the electrodes. According to the measures of performance of the spike sorting approach, it is robust even in the cases of recordings with low signal-to-noise ratio.

High performance transistors via aligned polyfluorene-sorted carbon nanotubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brady, Gerald J.; Joo, Yongho; Singha Roy, Susmit; Gopalan, Padma; Arnold, Michael S.

2014-01-01

We evaluate the performance of exceptionally electronic-type sorted, semiconducting, aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) in field effect transistors (FETs). High on-conductance and high on/off conductance modulation are simultaneously achieved at channel lengths which are both shorter and longer than individual s-SWCNTs. The s-SWCNTs are isolated from heterogeneous mixtures using a polyfluorene-derivative as a selective agent and aligned on substrates via dose-controlled, floating evaporative self-assembly at densities of ∼50 s-SWCNTs μm −1 . At a channel length of 9 μm the s-SWCNTs percolate to span the FET channel, and the on/off ratio and charge transport mobility are 2.2 × 10 7 and 46 cm 2  V −1  s −1 , respectively. At a channel length of 400 nm, a large fraction of the s-SWCNTs directly span the channel, and the on-conductance per width is 61 μS μm −1 and the on/off ratio is 4 × 10 5 . These results are considerably better than previous solution-processed FETs, which have suffered from poor on/off ratio due to spurious metallic nanotubes that bridge the channel. 4071 individual and small bundles of s-SWCNTs are tested in 400 nm channel length FETs, and all show semiconducting behavior, demonstrating the high fidelity of polyfluorenes as selective agents and the promise of assembling s-SWCNTs from solution to create high performance semiconductor electronic devices

High performance transistors via aligned polyfluorene-sorted carbon nanotubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brady, Gerald J.; Joo, Yongho; Singha Roy, Susmit; Gopalan, Padma; Arnold, Michael S., E-mail: msarnold@wisc.edu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

2014-02-24

We evaluate the performance of exceptionally electronic-type sorted, semiconducting, aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) in field effect transistors (FETs). High on-conductance and high on/off conductance modulation are simultaneously achieved at channel lengths which are both shorter and longer than individual s-SWCNTs. The s-SWCNTs are isolated from heterogeneous mixtures using a polyfluorene-derivative as a selective agent and aligned on substrates via dose-controlled, floating evaporative self-assembly at densities of ∼50 s-SWCNTs μm{sup −1}. At a channel length of 9 μm the s-SWCNTs percolate to span the FET channel, and the on/off ratio and charge transport mobility are 2.2 × 10{sup 7} and 46 cm{sup 2} V{sup −1} s{sup −1}, respectively. At a channel length of 400 nm, a large fraction of the s-SWCNTs directly span the channel, and the on-conductance per width is 61 μS μm{sup −1} and the on/off ratio is 4 × 10{sup 5}. These results are considerably better than previous solution-processed FETs, which have suffered from poor on/off ratio due to spurious metallic nanotubes that bridge the channel. 4071 individual and small bundles of s-SWCNTs are tested in 400 nm channel length FETs, and all show semiconducting behavior, demonstrating the high fidelity of polyfluorenes as selective agents and the promise of assembling s-SWCNTs from solution to create high performance semiconductor electronic devices.

An empirical study on SAJQ (Sorting Algorithm for Join Queries

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Hassan I. Mathkour

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Most queries that applied on database management systems (DBMS depend heavily on the performance of the used sorting algorithm. In addition to have an efficient sorting algorithm, as a primary feature, stability of such algorithms is a major feature that is needed in performing DBMS queries. In this paper, we study a new Sorting Algorithm for Join Queries (SAJQ that has both advantages of being efficient and stable. The proposed algorithm takes the advantage of using the m-way-merge algorithm in enhancing its time complexity. SAJQ performs the sorting operation in a time complexity of O(nlogm, where n is the length of the input array and m is number of sub-arrays used in sorting. An unsorted input array of length n is arranged into m sorted sub-arrays. The m-way-merge algorithm merges the sorted m sub-arrays into the final output sorted array. The proposed algorithm keeps the stability of the keys intact. An analytical proof has been conducted to prove that, in the worst case, the proposed algorithm has a complexity of O(nlogm. Also, a set of experiments has been performed to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results have shown that the proposed algorithm outperforms other Stable–Sorting algorithms that are designed for join-based queries.

Diagnostic Utility of the Shortened Version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Patients With Sporadic Late Onset Alzheimer Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez, Juan Luis; Martín, Javier; López, Carolina

2017-12-01

The classic version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) consists of correctly sorting 128 cards according to changing sorting criteria. Its application is costly in terms of the time employed, with all the negative consequences this entails (decrease in motivation, frustration, and fatigue). The main objective of this study was to test the usefulness of the shortened version of the WCST as compared to the full test by analyzing the equivalence between the two decks comprising the full 128-card version on a sample of patients diagnosed with sporadic late onset Alzheimer disease (SLOAD) and to check its clinical usefulness. The variables showed equivalence between the two decks and their ability to differentiate between the control group (CG) and the Alzheimer disease (AD) group. The scores obtained suggest equivalence between decks and that the application of only the first deck is sufficient.

Sort-Mid tasks scheduling algorithm in grid computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Reda, Naglaa M; Tawfik, A; Marzok, Mohamed A; Khamis, Soheir M

2015-11-01

Scheduling tasks on heterogeneous resources distributed over a grid computing system is an NP-complete problem. The main aim for several researchers is to develop variant scheduling algorithms for achieving optimality, and they have shown a good performance for tasks scheduling regarding resources selection. However, using of the full power of resources is still a challenge. In this paper, a new heuristic algorithm called Sort-Mid is proposed. It aims to maximizing the utilization and minimizing the makespan. The new strategy of Sort-Mid algorithm is to find appropriate resources. The base step is to get the average value via sorting list of completion time of each task. Then, the maximum average is obtained. Finally, the task has the maximum average is allocated to the machine that has the minimum completion time. The allocated task is deleted and then, these steps are repeated until all tasks are allocated. Experimental tests show that the proposed algorithm outperforms almost other algorithms in terms of resources utilization and makespan.

IMPLEMENTATION OF SERIAL AND PARALLEL BUBBLE SORT ON FPGA

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Dwi Marhaendro Jati Purnomo

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Sorting is common process in computational world. Its utilization are on many fields from research to industry. There are many sorting algorithm in nowadays. One of the simplest yet powerful is bubble sort. In this study, bubble sort is implemented on FPGA. The implementation was taken on serial and parallel approach. Serial and parallel bubble sort then compared by means of its memory, execution time, and utility which comprises slices and LUTs. The experiments show that serial bubble sort required smaller memory as well as utility compared to parallel bubble sort. Meanwhile, parallel bubble sort performed faster than serial bubble sort

Perbandingan Bubble Sort dengan Insertion Sort pada Bahasa Pemrograman C dan Fortran

OpenAIRE

Reina, Reina; Gautama, Josef Bernadi

2013-01-01

Sorting is a basic algorithm studied by students of computer science major. Sorting algorithm is the basis of other algorithms such as searching algorithm, pattern matching algorithm. Bubble sort is a popular basic sorting algorithm due to its easiness to be implemented. Besides bubble sort, there is insertion sort. It is lesspopular than bubble sort because it has more difficult algorithm. This paper discusses about process time between insertion sort and bubble sort with two kinds of data. ...

Automatic online spike sorting with singular value decomposition and fuzzy C-mean clustering

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Oliynyk Andriy

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Understanding how neurons contribute to perception, motor functions and cognition requires the reliable detection of spiking activity of individual neurons during a number of different experimental conditions. An important problem in computational neuroscience is thus to develop algorithms to automatically detect and sort the spiking activity of individual neurons from extracellular recordings. While many algorithms for spike sorting exist, the problem of accurate and fast online sorting still remains a challenging issue. Results Here we present a novel software tool, called FSPS (Fuzzy SPike Sorting, which is designed to optimize: (i fast and accurate detection, (ii offline sorting and (iii online classification of neuronal spikes with very limited or null human intervention. The method is based on a combination of Singular Value Decomposition for fast and highly accurate pre-processing of spike shapes, unsupervised Fuzzy C-mean, high-resolution alignment of extracted spike waveforms, optimal selection of the number of features to retain, automatic identification the number of clusters, and quantitative quality assessment of resulting clusters independent on their size. After being trained on a short testing data stream, the method can reliably perform supervised online classification and monitoring of single neuron activity. The generalized procedure has been implemented in our FSPS spike sorting software (available free for non-commercial academic applications at the address: http://www.spikesorting.com using LabVIEW (National Instruments, USA. We evaluated the performance of our algorithm both on benchmark simulated datasets with different levels of background noise and on real extracellular recordings from premotor cortex of Macaque monkeys. The results of these tests showed an excellent accuracy in discriminating low-amplitude and overlapping spikes under strong background noise. The performance of our method is

Automatic online spike sorting with singular value decomposition and fuzzy C-mean clustering.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliynyk, Andriy; Bonifazzi, Claudio; Montani, Fernando; Fadiga, Luciano

2012-08-08

Understanding how neurons contribute to perception, motor functions and cognition requires the reliable detection of spiking activity of individual neurons during a number of different experimental conditions. An important problem in computational neuroscience is thus to develop algorithms to automatically detect and sort the spiking activity of individual neurons from extracellular recordings. While many algorithms for spike sorting exist, the problem of accurate and fast online sorting still remains a challenging issue. Here we present a novel software tool, called FSPS (Fuzzy SPike Sorting), which is designed to optimize: (i) fast and accurate detection, (ii) offline sorting and (iii) online classification of neuronal spikes with very limited or null human intervention. The method is based on a combination of Singular Value Decomposition for fast and highly accurate pre-processing of spike shapes, unsupervised Fuzzy C-mean, high-resolution alignment of extracted spike waveforms, optimal selection of the number of features to retain, automatic identification the number of clusters, and quantitative quality assessment of resulting clusters independent on their size. After being trained on a short testing data stream, the method can reliably perform supervised online classification and monitoring of single neuron activity. The generalized procedure has been implemented in our FSPS spike sorting software (available free for non-commercial academic applications at the address: http://www.spikesorting.com) using LabVIEW (National Instruments, USA). We evaluated the performance of our algorithm both on benchmark simulated datasets with different levels of background noise and on real extracellular recordings from premotor cortex of Macaque monkeys. The results of these tests showed an excellent accuracy in discriminating low-amplitude and overlapping spikes under strong background noise. The performance of our method is competitive with respect to other robust spike

Spike sorting for polytrodes: a divide and conquer approach

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Nicholas V. Swindale

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In order to determine patterns of neural activity, spike signals recorded by extracellular electrodes have to be clustered (sorted with the aim of ensuring that each cluster represents all the spikes generated by an individual neuron. Many methods for spike sorting have been proposed but few are easily applicable to recordings from polytrodes which may have 16 or more recording sites. As with tetrodes, these are spaced sufficiently closely that signals from single neurons will usually be recorded on several adjacent sites. Although this offers a better chance of distinguishing neurons with similarly shaped spikes, sorting is difficult in such cases because of the high dimensionality of the space in which the signals must be classified. This report details a method for spike sorting based on a divide and conquer approach. Clusters are initially formed by assigning each event to the channel on which it is largest. Each channel-based cluster is then sub-divided into as many distinct clusters as possible. These are then recombined on the basis of pairwise tests into a final set of clusters. Pairwise tests are also performed to establish how distinct each cluster is from the others. A modified gradient ascent clustering (GAC algorithm is used to do the clustering. The method can sort spikes with minimal user input in times comparable to real time for recordings lasting up to 45 minutes. Our results illustrate some of the difficulties inherent in spike sorting, including changes in spike shape over time. We show that some physiologically distinct units may have very similar spike shapes. We show that RMS measures of spike shape similarity are not sensitive enough to discriminate clusters that can otherwise be separated by principal components analysis. Hence spike sorting based on least-squares matching to templates may be unreliable. Our methods should be applicable to tetrodes and scaleable to larger multi-electrode arrays (MEAs.

Tradeoffs Between Branch Mispredictions and Comparisons for Sorting Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Moruz, Gabriel

2005-01-01

Branch mispredictions is an important factor affecting the running time in practice. In this paper we consider tradeoffs between the number of branch mispredictions and the number of comparisons for sorting algorithms in the comparison model. We prove that a sorting algorithm using O(dnlog n......) comparisons performs Omega(nlogd n) branch mispredictions. We show that Multiway MergeSort achieves this tradeoff by adopting a multiway merger with a low number of branch mispredictions. For adaptive sorting algorithms we similarly obtain that an algorithm performing O(dn(1+log (1+Inv/n))) comparisons must...... perform Omega(nlogd (1+Inv/n)) branch mispredictions, where Inv is the number of inversions in the input. This tradeoff can be achieved by GenericSort by Estivill-Castro and Wood by adopting a multiway division protocol and a multiway merging algorithm with a low number of branch mispredictions....

Perbandingan Bubble Sort dengan Insertion Sort pada Bahasa Pemrograman C dan Fortran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reina Reina

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Sorting is a basic algorithm studied by students of computer science major. Sorting algorithm is the basis of other algorithms such as searching algorithm, pattern matching algorithm. Bubble sort is a popular basic sorting algorithm due to its easiness to be implemented. Besides bubble sort, there is insertion sort. It is lesspopular than bubble sort because it has more difficult algorithm. This paper discusses about process time between insertion sort and bubble sort with two kinds of data. First is randomized data, and the second is data of descending list. Comparison of process time has been done in two kinds of programming language that is C programming language and FORTRAN programming language. The result shows that bubble sort needs more time than insertion sort does.

Detecção de simulação com o uso do wisconsin card sorting test e do trail making test Detection of malingering using the wisconsin card sorting test and the trail making test

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Hugo Sousa

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Neste trabalho, tentamos identificar índices de simulação na avaliação neuropsicológica forense, através da avaliação dos padrões de resposta em provas neuropsicológicas. A amostra foi constituída por 56 sujeitos com traumatismo crânioencefálico. Todos se encontravam numa situação de possível recompensa monetária por incapacidade. Utilizamos os instrumentos Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST, Trail Making Test (TMT, Inventário de Sintomas Psicopatológicos (BSI, e a grelha de análise dos autos do processo. Cerca de 30% da amostra enquadrou-se no grupo de prováveis simuladores. Essa porcentagem é congruente com a literatura. Verificou-se uma grande homogeneidade entre os indivíduos com e sem indicadores de simulação, a nível sintomatológico e características sócio-demográficas, o que reforça a necessidade de desenvolvimento de métodos eficazes na detecção da simulação.The objective of this study was to identify indicators of malingering in forensic neuropsychological assessment by identifying response patterns in neuropsychological tests. The sample was composed by 56 subjects diagnosed with a cranioencephalic trauma. All subjects were in a situation of monetary reward if incapacity was proven. The instruments used were the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST, the Trail Making Test (TMT, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI, and a legal process data file. Approximately 30% of the studied sample was identified as probable malingerers. This percentage is consistent with the literature. We identified a high level of homogeneity of psychological symptoms and socio-demographic features in the group of subjects with indicators of malingering and in the group without such indicators. These results reinforce the necessity to develop efficient methods to detect malingering.

A Visual Guide to Sorting Electrophysiological Recordings Using 'SpikeSorter'.

Science.gov (United States)

Swindale, Nicholas V; Mitelut, Catalin; Murphy, Timothy H; Spacek, Martin A

2017-02-10

Few stand-alone software applications are available for sorting spikes from recordings made with multi-electrode arrays. Ideally, an application should be user friendly with a graphical user interface, able to read data files in a variety of formats, and provide users with a flexible set of tools giving them the ability to detect and sort extracellular voltage waveforms from different units with some degree of reliability. Previously published spike sorting methods are now available in a software program, SpikeSorter, intended to provide electrophysiologists with a complete set of tools for sorting, starting from raw recorded data file and ending with the export of sorted spikes times. Procedures are automated to the extent this is currently possible. The article explains and illustrates the use of the program. A representative data file is opened, extracellular traces are filtered, events are detected and then clustered. A number of problems that commonly occur during sorting are illustrated, including the artefactual over-splitting of units due to the tendency of some units to fire spikes in pairs where the second spike is significantly smaller than the first, and over-splitting caused by slow variation in spike height over time encountered in some units. The accuracy of SpikeSorter's performance has been tested with surrogate ground truth data and found to be comparable to that of other algorithms in current development.

Colour based sorting station with Matlab simulation

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Constantin Victor

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the design process and manufacturing elements of a colour-based sorting station. The system is comprised of a gravitational storage, which also contains the colour sensor. Parts are extracted using a linear pneumatic motor and are fed onto an electrically driven conveyor belt. Extraction of the parts is done at 4 points, using two pneumatic motors and a geared DC motor, while the 4th position is at the end of the belt. The mechanical parts of the system are manufactured using 3D printer technology, allowing for easy modification and adaption to the geometry of different parts. The paper shows all of the stages needed to design, optimize, test and implement the proposed solution. System optimization was performed using a graphical Matlab interface which also allows for sorting algorithm optimization.

Application of visible spectroscopy in waste sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Spiga, Philippe; Bourely, Antoine

2011-10-01

Today, waste recycling, (bottles, papers...), is a mechanical operation: the waste are crushed, fused and agglomerated in order to obtain new manufactured products (e.g. new bottles, clothes ...). The plastics recycling is the main application in the color sorting process. The colorless plastics recovered are more valuable than the colored plastics. Other emergent applications are in the paper sorting, where the main goal is to sort dyed paper from white papers. Up to now, Pellenc Selective Technologies has manufactured color sorting machines based on RGB cameras. Three dimensions (red, green and blue) are no longer sufficient to detect low quantities of dye in the considered waste. In order to increase the efficiency of the color detection, a new sorting machine, based on visible spectroscopy, has been developed. This paper presents the principles of the two approaches and their difference in terms of sorting performance, making visible spectroscopy a clear winner.

Sort-Mid tasks scheduling algorithm in grid computing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naglaa M. Reda

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Scheduling tasks on heterogeneous resources distributed over a grid computing system is an NP-complete problem. The main aim for several researchers is to develop variant scheduling algorithms for achieving optimality, and they have shown a good performance for tasks scheduling regarding resources selection. However, using of the full power of resources is still a challenge. In this paper, a new heuristic algorithm called Sort-Mid is proposed. It aims to maximizing the utilization and minimizing the makespan. The new strategy of Sort-Mid algorithm is to find appropriate resources. The base step is to get the average value via sorting list of completion time of each task. Then, the maximum average is obtained. Finally, the task has the maximum average is allocated to the machine that has the minimum completion time. The allocated task is deleted and then, these steps are repeated until all tasks are allocated. Experimental tests show that the proposed algorithm outperforms almost other algorithms in terms of resources utilization and makespan.

International Society for Analytical Cytology biosafety standard for sorting of unfixed cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Ingrid; Lambert, Claude; Ambrozak, David; Marti, Gerald E; Moss, Delynn M; Perfetto, Stephen P

2007-06-01

Cell sorting of viable biological specimens has become very prevalent in laboratories involved in basic and clinical research. As these samples can contain infectious agents, precautions to protect instrument operators and the environment from hazards arising from the use of sorters are paramount. To this end the International Society of Analytical Cytology (ISAC) took a lead in establishing biosafety guidelines for sorting of unfixed cells (Schmid et al., Cytometry 1997;28:99-117). During the time period these recommendations have been available, they have become recognized worldwide as the standard practices and safety precautions for laboratories performing viable cell sorting experiments. However, the field of cytometry has progressed since 1997, and the document requires an update. Initially, suggestions about the document format and content were discussed among members of the ISAC Biosafety Committee and were incorporated into a draft version that was sent to all committee members for review. Comments were collected, carefully considered, and incorporated as appropriate into a draft document that was posted on the ISAC web site to invite comments from the flow cytometry community at large. The revised document was then submitted to ISAC Council for review. Simultaneously, further comments were sought from newly-appointed ISAC Biosafety committee members. This safety standard for performing viable cell sorting experiments was recently generated. The document contains background information on the biohazard potential of sorting and the hazard classification of infectious agents as well as recommendations on (1) sample handling, (2) operator training and personal protection, (3) laboratory design, (4) cell sorter set-up, maintenance, and decontamination, and (5) testing the instrument for the efficiency of aerosol containment. This standard constitutes an updated and expanded revision of the 1997 biosafety guideline document. It is intended to provide

Performance of non-neurological older adults on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Stroop Color-Word Test: normal variability or cognitive impairment?

Science.gov (United States)

Gunner, Jessica H; Miele, Andrea S; Lynch, Julie K; McCaffrey, Robert J

2012-06-01

There is currently no standard criterion for determining abnormal test scores in neuropsychology; thus, a number of different criteria are commonly used. We investigated base rates of abnormal scores in healthy older adults using raw and T-scores from indices of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Stroop Color-Word Test. Abnormal scores were examined cumulatively at seven cutoffs including >1.0, >1.5, >2.0, >2.5, and >3.0 standard deviations (SD) from the mean as well as those below the 10th and 5th percentiles. In addition, the number of abnormal scores at each of the seven cutoffs was also examined. Results showed when considering raw scores, ∼15% of individuals obtained scores>1.0 SD from the mean, around 10% were less than the 10th percentile, and 5% fell >1.5 SD or 1.0 and >1.5 SD from the mean, respectively. Roughly 15% and 5% fell at the 2.0 SD from the mean were infrequent. Although the presence of a single abnormal score at 1.0 and 1.5 SD from the mean or at the 10th and 5th percentiles was not unusual, the presence of ≥2 abnormal scores using any criteria was uncommon. Consideration of base rate data regarding the percentage of healthy individuals scoring in the abnormal range should help avoid classifying normal variability as neuropsychological impairment.

Design and realization of sort manipulator of crystal-angle sort machine

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ming-shun; Chen, Shu-ping; Guan, Shou-ping; Zhang, Yao-wei

2005-12-01

It is a current tendency of development in automation technology to replace manpower with manipulators in working places where dangerous, harmful, heavy or repetitive work is involved. The sort manipulator is installed in a crystal-angle sort machine to take the place of manpower, and engaged in unloading and sorting work. It is the outcome of combing together mechanism, electric transmission, and pneumatic element and micro-controller control. The step motor makes the sort manipulator operate precisely. The pneumatic elements make the sort manipulator be cleverer. Micro-controller's software bestows some simple artificial intelligence on the sort manipulator, so that it can precisely repeat its unloading and sorting work. The combination of manipulator's zero position and step motor counting control puts an end to accumulating error in long time operation. A sort manipulator's design in the practice engineering has been proved to be correct and reliable.

Development of a reactor thermalhydraulic experiment databank(SORTED1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bang, Young Seck; Kim, Eun Kyoung; Kim, Hho Jung; Lee, Sang Yong

1994-01-01

The recent trend in thermalhydraulic safety analysis of nuclear power plant shows the best-estimate and probabilistic approaches, therefore, the verification of the best-estimate code based on the applicable experiment data has been required. The present study focused on developing a simple databank, SORTED1, to be effectively used for code verification. The development of SORTED1 includes a data collection from the various sources including ENCOUNTER, which is the reactor safety data bank of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a reorganization of collected resources suitable for requirements of SORTED1 database management system (DBMS), and a development of a simple DBMS. The SORTED1 is designed in Unix environment with graphic user interface to improve a user convenience and has a capability to provide the test related information. The currently registered data in SORTED1 cover 759 thermalhydraulic tests including LOFT, Semiscale, etc

Real-World Sorting of RHIC Superconducting Magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei, J.; Gupta, R.; Harrison, M.; Jain, A.; Peggs, S.; Thompson, P.; Trbojevic, D.; Wanderer, P.

1999-01-01

During the seven-year construction of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), more than 1700 superconducting dipoles, quadrupoles, sextupoles, and multi-layer correctors have been constructed and installed. These magnets have been sorted at several production stages to optimize their performance and reliability. For arc magnets, priorities have bene put first on quench performance and operational risk minimization, second on field transfer function and other first-order quantities, and finally on nonlinear field errors which were painstakingly optimized at design. For Interaction-Region (IR) magnets, sorting is applied to select the best possible combination of magnets for the low-β interaction points (IP). This paper summarizes the history of this real-world sorting process

Automatic spike sorting using tuning information.

Science.gov (United States)

Ventura, Valérie

2009-09-01

Current spike sorting methods focus on clustering neurons' characteristic spike waveforms. The resulting spike-sorted data are typically used to estimate how covariates of interest modulate the firing rates of neurons. However, when these covariates do modulate the firing rates, they provide information about spikes' identities, which thus far have been ignored for the purpose of spike sorting. This letter describes a novel approach to spike sorting, which incorporates both waveform information and tuning information obtained from the modulation of firing rates. Because it efficiently uses all the available information, this spike sorter yields lower spike misclassification rates than traditional automatic spike sorters. This theoretical result is verified empirically on several examples. The proposed method does not require additional assumptions; only its implementation is different. It essentially consists of performing spike sorting and tuning estimation simultaneously rather than sequentially, as is currently done. We used an expectation-maximization maximum likelihood algorithm to implement the new spike sorter. We present the general form of this algorithm and provide a detailed implementable version under the assumptions that neurons are independent and spike according to Poisson processes. Finally, we uncover a systematic flaw of spike sorting based on waveform information only.

A Model Vision of Sorting System Application Using Robotic Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maralo Sinaga

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Image processing in today’s world grabs massive attentions as it leads to possibilities of broaden application in many fields of high technology. The real challenge is how to improve existing sorting system in the Moduler Processing System (MPS laboratory which consists of four integrated stations of distribution, testing, processing and handling with a new image processing feature. Existing sorting method uses a set of inductive, capacitive and optical sensors do differentiate object color. This paper presents a mechatronics color sorting system solution with the application of image processing. Supported by OpenCV, image processing procedure senses the circular objects in an image captured in realtime by a webcam and then extracts color and position information out of it. This information is passed as a sequence of sorting commands to the manipulator (Mitsubishi Movemaster RV-M1 that does pick-and-place mechanism. Extensive testing proves that this color based object sorting system works 100% accurate under ideal condition in term of adequate illumination, circular objects’ shape and color. The circular objects tested for sorting are silver, red and black. For non-ideal condition, such as unspecified color the accuracy reduces to 80%.

Parallel sorting algorithms

CERN Document Server

Akl, Selim G

1985-01-01

Parallel Sorting Algorithms explains how to use parallel algorithms to sort a sequence of items on a variety of parallel computers. The book reviews the sorting problem, the parallel models of computation, parallel algorithms, and the lower bounds on the parallel sorting problems. The text also presents twenty different algorithms, such as linear arrays, mesh-connected computers, cube-connected computers. Another example where algorithm can be applied is on the shared-memory SIMD (single instruction stream multiple data stream) computers in which the whole sequence to be sorted can fit in the

Automatic Color Sorting of Hardwood Edge-Glued Panel Parts

Science.gov (United States)

D. Earl Kline; Richard Conners; Qiang Lu; Philip A. Araman

1997-01-01

This paper describes an automatic color sorting system for red oak edge-glued panel parts. The color sorting system simultaneously examines both faces of a panel part and then determines which face has the "best" color, and sorts the part into one of a number of color classes at plant production speeds. Initial test results show that the system generated over...

Science and technology of kernels and TRISO coated particle sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nothnagel, G.

2006-09-01

The ~1mm diameter TRISO coated particles, which form the elemental units of PBMR nuclear fuel, has to be close to spherical in order to best survive damage during sphere pressing. Spherical silicon carbide layers further provide the strongest miniature pressure vessels for fission product retention. To make sure that the final product contains particles of acceptable shape, 100% of kernels and coated particles have to be sorted on a surface-ground sorting table. Broken particles, twins, irregular (odd) shapes and extreme ellipsoids have to be separated from the final kernel and coated particle batches. Proper sorting of particles is an extremely important step in quality fuel production as the final failure fraction depends sensitively on the quality of sorting. After sorting a statistically significant sample of the sorted product is analysed for sphericity, which is defined as the ratio of maximum to minimum diameter, as part of a standard QC test to ensure conformance to German specifications. In addition a burn-leach test is done on coated particles (before pressing) and fuel spheres (after pressing) to ensure adherence to failure specifications. Because of the extreme importance of particle sorting for assurance of fuel quality it is essential to have an in-depth understanding of the capabilities and limitations of particle sorting. In this report a systematic scientific rationale is developed, from fundamental principles, to provide a basis for understanding the relationship between product quality and sorting parameters. The principles and concepts, developed in this report, will be of importance when future sorting tables (or equivalents) are to be designed. A number of new concepts and methodologies are developed to assist with equivalence validation of any two sorting tables. This is aimed in particular towards quantitative assessment of equivalence between current QC tables (closely based on the original NUKEM parameters, except for the driving mechanism

Demographically corrected norms for African Americans and Caucasians on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test 64-Card Version.

Science.gov (United States)

Norman, Marc A; Moore, David J; Taylor, Michael; Franklin, Donald; Cysique, Lucette; Ake, Chris; Lazarretto, Deborah; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K

2011-08-01

Memory and executive functioning are two important components of clinical neuropsychological (NP) practice and research. Multiple demographic factors are known to affect performance differentially on most NP tests, but adequate normative corrections, inclusive of race/ethnicity, are not available for many widely used instruments. This study compared demographic contributions for widely used tests of verbal and visual learning and memory (Brief Visual Memory Test-Revised, Hopkins Verbal Memory Test-Revised) and executive functioning (Stroop Color and Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64) in groups of healthy Caucasians (n = 143) and African Americans (n = 103). Demographic factors of age, education, gender, and race/ethnicity were found to be significant factors on some indices of all four tests. The magnitude of demographic contributions (especially age) was greater for African Americans than for Caucasians on most measures. New, demographically corrected T-score formulas were calculated for each race/ethnicity. The rates of NP impairment using previously published normative standards significantly overestimated NP impairment in African Americans. Utilizing the new demographic corrections developed and presented herein, NP impairment rates were comparable between the two race/ethnicities and were unrelated to the other demographic characteristics (age, education, gender) in either race/ethnicity group. Findings support the need to consider extended demographic contributions to neuropsychological test performance in clinical and research settings.

Parallel sort with a ranged, partitioned key-value store in a high perfomance computing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bent, John M.; Faibish, Sorin; Grider, Gary; Torres, Aaron; Poole, Stephen W.

2016-01-26

Improved sorting techniques are provided that perform a parallel sort using a ranged, partitioned key-value store in a high performance computing (HPC) environment. A plurality of input data files comprising unsorted key-value data in a partitioned key-value store are sorted. The partitioned key-value store comprises a range server for each of a plurality of ranges. Each input data file has an associated reader thread. Each reader thread reads the unsorted key-value data in the corresponding input data file and performs a local sort of the unsorted key-value data to generate sorted key-value data. A plurality of sorted, ranged subsets of each of the sorted key-value data are generated based on the plurality of ranges. Each sorted, ranged subset corresponds to a given one of the ranges and is provided to one of the range servers corresponding to the range of the sorted, ranged subset. Each range server sorts the received sorted, ranged subsets and provides a sorted range. A plurality of the sorted ranges are concatenated to obtain a globally sorted result.

A Sort-Last Rendering System over an Optical Backplane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuhiro Kirihata

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Sort-Last is a computer graphics technique for rendering extremely large data sets on clusters of computers. Sort-Last works by dividing the data set into even-sized chunks for parallel rendering and then composing the images to form the final result. Since sort-last rendering requires the movement of large amounts of image data among cluster nodes, the network interconnecting the nodes becomes a major bottleneck. In this paper, we describe a sort-last rendering system implemented on a cluster of computers whose nodes are connected by an all-optical switch. The rendering system introduces the notion of the Photonic Computing Engine, a computing system built dynamically by using the optical switch to create dedicated network connections among cluster nodes. The sort-last volume rendering algorithm was implemented on the Photonic Computing Engine, and its performance is evaluated. Prelimi- nary experiments show that performance is affected by the image composition time and average payload size. In an attempt to stabilize the performance of the system, we have designed a flow control mechanism that uses feedback messages to dynamically adjust the data flow rate within the computing engine.

Construction and validation of an ecological version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test applied to an elderly population.

Science.gov (United States)

Pezzuti, Lina; Mastrantonio, Elisa; Orsini, Arturo

2013-01-01

The goal of this project was to construct and validate an ecological version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) aimed at the elderly. This was accomplished by replacing the geometric stimuli of the traditional version with stimuli belonging to the semantic category of transport vehicles, and by elimination of the color yellow. The results showed the ecological WCST version was preferred over the traditional version and older people felt less tired during test performance. In the two independent normal elderly groups, all pairs of scores that can be derived from the WCST correlated significantly with each other. Six of 11 outcome measures of the traditional WCST-128 (long) version were significantly influenced by age. By contrast, in the WCST-64 (short) version and in the ecological WCST-54 version only one measure was affected by the age variable. No significant effect of education level or gender emerged from the results in any WCST version. Again, the subjects with cognitive deterioration had lower performance in the ecological WCST-54 version than in the two traditional WCST versions. It seems reasonable to assume that the ecological version of WCST is more discriminating and has more advantages than the traditional versions. Further research on individual differences in the performance on this task will increase understanding of the components of the test, and of the variety of factors and possible deficits that could lead to an impaired performance of the test.

Automated spike sorting algorithm based on Laplacian eigenmaps and k-means clustering.

Science.gov (United States)

Chah, E; Hok, V; Della-Chiesa, A; Miller, J J H; O'Mara, S M; Reilly, R B

2011-02-01

This study presents a new automatic spike sorting method based on feature extraction by Laplacian eigenmaps combined with k-means clustering. The performance of the proposed method was compared against previously reported algorithms such as principal component analysis (PCA) and amplitude-based feature extraction. Two types of classifier (namely k-means and classification expectation-maximization) were incorporated within the spike sorting algorithms, in order to find a suitable classifier for the feature sets. Simulated data sets and in-vivo tetrode multichannel recordings were employed to assess the performance of the spike sorting algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm yields significantly improved performance with mean sorting accuracy of 73% and sorting error of 10% compared to PCA which combined with k-means had a sorting accuracy of 58% and sorting error of 10%.A correction was made to this article on 22 February 2011. The spacing of the title was amended on the abstract page. No changes were made to the article PDF and the print version was unaffected.

Sex-sorting sperm using flow cytometry/cell sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Garner, Duane L; Evans, K Michael; Seidel, George E

2013-01-01

The sex of mammalian offspring can be predetermined by flow sorting relatively pure living populations of X- and Y-chromosome-bearing sperm. This method is based on precise staining of the DNA of sperm with the nucleic acid-specific fluorophore, Hoechst 33342, to differentiate between the subpopulations of X- and Y-sperm. The fluorescently stained sperm are then sex-sorted using a specialized high speed sorter, MoFlo(®) SX XDP, and collected into biologically supportive media prior to reconcentration and cryopreservation in numbers adequate for use with artificial insemination for some species or for in vitro fertilization. Sperm sorting can provide subpopulations of X- or Y-bearing bovine sperm at rates in the 8,000 sperm/s range while maintaining; a purity of 90% such that it has been applied to cattle on a commercial basis. The sex of offspring has been predetermined in a wide variety of mammalian species including cattle, swine, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, deer, elk, dolphins, water buffalo as well as in humans using flow cytometric sorting of X- and Y-sperm.

The Container Problem in Bubble-Sort Graphs

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Yasuto; Kaneko, Keiichi

Bubble-sort graphs are variants of Cayley graphs. A bubble-sort graph is suitable as a topology for massively parallel systems because of its simple and regular structure. Therefore, in this study, we focus on n-bubble-sort graphs and propose an algorithm to obtain n-1 disjoint paths between two arbitrary nodes in time bounded by a polynomial in n, the degree of the graph plus one. We estimate the time complexity of the algorithm and the sum of the path lengths after proving the correctness of the algorithm. In addition, we report the results of computer experiments evaluating the average performance of the algorithm.

ALGORITHM FOR SORTING GROUPED DATA

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, J. D.

1994-01-01

It is often desirable to sort data sets in ascending or descending order. This becomes more difficult for grouped data, i.e., multiple sets of data, where each set of data involves several measurements or related elements. The sort becomes increasingly cumbersome when more than a few elements exist for each data set. In order to achieve an efficient sorting process, an algorithm has been devised in which the maximum most significant element is found, and then compared to each element in succession. The program was written to handle the daily temperature readings of the Voyager spacecraft, particularly those related to the special tracking requirements of Voyager 2. By reducing each data set to a single representative number, the sorting process becomes very easy. The first step in the process is to reduce the data set of width 'n' to a data set of width '1'. This is done by representing each data set by a polynomial of length 'n' based on the differences of the maximum and minimum elements. These single numbers are then sorted and converted back to obtain the original data sets. Required input data are the name of the data file to read and sort, and the starting and ending record numbers. The package includes a sample data file, containing 500 sets of data with 5 elements in each set. This program will perform a sort of the 500 data sets in 3 - 5 seconds on an IBM PC-AT with a hard disk; on a similarly equipped IBM PC-XT the time is under 10 seconds. This program is written in BASIC (specifically the Microsoft QuickBasic compiler) for interactive execution and has been implemented on the IBM PC computer series operating under PC-DOS with a central memory requirement of approximately 40K of 8 bit bytes. A hard disk is desirable for speed considerations, but is not required. This program was developed in 1986.

Efficient sorting using registers and caches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wickremesinghe, Rajiv; Arge, Lars Allan; Chase, Jeffrey S.

2002-01-01

. Inadequate models lead to poor algorithmic choices and an incomplete understanding of algorithm behavior on real machines.A key step toward developing better models is to quantify the performance effects of features not reflected in the models. This paper explores the effect of memory system features...... on sorting performance. We introduce a new cache-conscious sorting algorithm, R-MERGE, which achieves better performance in practice over algorithms that are superior in the theoretical models. R-MERGE is designed to minimize memory stall cycles rather than cache misses by considering features common to many......Modern computer systems have increasingly complex memory systems. Common machine models for algorithm analysis do not reflect many of the features of these systems, e.g., large register sets, lockup-free caches, cache hierarchies, associativity, cache line fetching, and streaming behavior...

A QR code identification technology in package auto-sorting system

Science.gov (United States)

di, Yi-Juan; Shi, Jian-Ping; Mao, Guo-Yong

2017-07-01

Traditional manual sorting operation is not suitable for the development of Chinese logistics. For better sorting packages, a QR code recognition technology is proposed to identify the QR code label on the packages in package auto-sorting system. The experimental results compared with other algorithms in literatures demonstrate that the proposed method is valid and its performance is superior to other algorithms.

Ready, steady, SORT!

CERN Document Server

Laëtitia Pedroso

2010-01-01

The selective or ecological sorting of waste is already second nature to many of us and concerns us all. As the GS Department's new awareness-raising campaign reminds us, everything we do to sort waste contributes to preserving the environment.    Placemats printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based ink will soon be distributed in Restaurant No.1.   Environmental protection is never far from the headlines, and CERN has a responsibility to ensure that the 3000 tonnes and more of waste it produces every year are correctly and selectively sorted. Materials can be given a second life through recycling and re-use, thereby avoiding pollution from landfill sites and incineration plants and saving on processing costs. The GS Department is launching a new poster campaign designed to raise awareness of the importance of waste sorting and recycling. "After conducting a survey to find out whether members of the personnel were prepared to make an effort to sort a...

Technology to sort lumber by color and grain for furniture parts

Science.gov (United States)

D. Earl Kline; Richard Conners; Philip A. Araman

2000-01-01

This paper describes an automatic color and grain sorting system for wood edge-glued panel parts. The color sorting system simultaneously examines both faces of a panel part and then determines which face has the "best" color, and sorts the part into one of a number of color classes at plant production speeds. In-plant test results show that the system...

A probability-based multi-cycle sorting method for 4D-MRI: A simulation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Xiao; Yin, Fang-Fang; Liu, Yilin; Cai, Jing

2016-12-01

To develop a novel probability-based sorting method capable of generating multiple breathing cycles of 4D-MRI images and to evaluate performance of this new method by comparing with conventional phase-based methods in terms of image quality and tumor motion measurement. Based on previous findings that breathing motion probability density function (PDF) of a single breathing cycle is dramatically different from true stabilized PDF that resulted from many breathing cycles, it is expected that a probability-based sorting method capable of generating multiple breathing cycles of 4D images may capture breathing variation information missing from conventional single-cycle sorting methods. The overall idea is to identify a few main breathing cycles (and their corresponding weightings) that can best represent the main breathing patterns of the patient and then reconstruct a set of 4D images for each of the identified main breathing cycles. This method is implemented in three steps: (1) The breathing signal is decomposed into individual breathing cycles, characterized by amplitude, and period; (2) individual breathing cycles are grouped based on amplitude and period to determine the main breathing cycles. If a group contains more than 10% of all breathing cycles in a breathing signal, it is determined as a main breathing pattern group and is represented by the average of individual breathing cycles in the group; (3) for each main breathing cycle, a set of 4D images is reconstructed using a result-driven sorting method adapted from our previous study. The probability-based sorting method was first tested on 26 patients' breathing signals to evaluate its feasibility of improving target motion PDF. The new method was subsequently tested for a sequential image acquisition scheme on the 4D digital extended cardiac torso (XCAT) phantom. Performance of the probability-based and conventional sorting methods was evaluated in terms of target volume precision and accuracy as measured

COST EVALUATION OF AUTOMATED AND MANUAL POST- CONSUMER PLASTIC BOTTLE SORTING SYSTEMS

Science.gov (United States)

This project evaluates, on the basis of performance and cost, two Automated BottleSort® sorting systems for post-consumer commingled plastic containers developed by Magnetic Separation Systems. This study compares the costs to sort mixed bales of post-consumer plastic at these t...

Saudi normative data for the Wisconsin Card Sorting test, Stroop test, Test of Non-verbal Intelligence-3, Picture Completion and Vocabulary (subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised).

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Ghatani, Ali M; Obonsawin, Marc C; Binshaig, Basmah A; Al-Moutaery, Khalaf R

2011-01-01

There are 2 aims for this study: first, to collect normative data for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop test, Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI-3), Picture Completion (PC) and Vocabulary (VOC) sub-test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised for use in a Saudi Arabian culture, and second, to use the normative data provided to generate the regression equations. To collect the normative data and generate the regression equations, 198 healthy individuals were selected to provide a representative distribution for age, gender, years of education, and socioeconomic class. The WCST, Stroop test, TONI-3, PC, and VOC were administrated to the healthy individuals. This study was carried out at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Riyadh Military Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January 2000 to July 2002. Normative data were obtained for all tests, and tables were constructed to interpret scores for different age groups. Regression equations to predict performance on the 3 tests of frontal function from scores on tests of fluid (TONI-3) and premorbid intelligence were generated from the data from the healthy individuals. The data collected in this study provide normative tables for 3 tests of frontal lobe function and for tests of general intellectual ability for use in Saudi Arabia. The data also provide a method to estimate pre-injury ability without the use of verbally based tests.

Sorting a distribution theory

CERN Document Server

Mahmoud, Hosam M

2011-01-01

A cutting-edge look at the emerging distributional theory of sorting Research on distributions associated with sorting algorithms has grown dramatically over the last few decades, spawning many exact and limiting distributions of complexity measures for many sorting algorithms. Yet much of this information has been scattered in disparate and highly specialized sources throughout the literature. In Sorting: A Distribution Theory, leading authority Hosam Mahmoud compiles, consolidates, and clarifies the large volume of available research, providing a much-needed, comprehensive treatment of the

Pilot scale digestion of source-sorted household waste as a tool for evaluation of different pre-sorting and pre-treatment strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svärd, Å; Gruvberger, C.; Aspegren, H.

2002-01-01

Pilot scale digestion of the organic fraction of source-sorted household waste from Sweden and Denmark was performed during one year. The study includes 17 waste types with differences in originating municipality, housing type, kitchen wrapping, sack type, pre-treatment method and season. The pilot...... scale digestion has been carried out in systems with a 35-litres digester connected to a 77-litres gas tank. Four rounds of digestion were performed including start-up periods, full operation periods for evaluation and post-digestion periods without feeding. Different pre-sorting and pre-treatment...

The use of radiometric ore sorting on South African gold mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehme, R.C.; Freer, J.S.

1982-01-01

This paper refers to the radiometric sorting tests reported during the 7th CMMI Congress, and then describes the photometric and radiometric sorter installations in operation and under construction in South Africa at present. As radiometric sorting of gold ores uses the radiation from the uranium content as a tracer, it is essential that the sortability of the ore should be reliably determined before sorting is adopted. The method of obtaining the important ore characteristics is described, with examples. The possible increase in gold production from a hypothetical plant as a result of sorting is shown

Wage Sorting Trends

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bagger, Jesper; Vejlin, Rune Majlund; Sørensen, Kenneth Lykke

Using a population-wide Danish Matched Employer-Employee panel from 1980-2006, we document a strong trend towards more positive assortative wage sorting. The correlation between worker and firm fixed effects estimated from a log wage regression increases from -0.07 in 1981 to .14 in 2001. The non......Using a population-wide Danish Matched Employer-Employee panel from 1980-2006, we document a strong trend towards more positive assortative wage sorting. The correlation between worker and firm fixed effects estimated from a log wage regression increases from -0.07 in 1981 to .14 in 2001....... The nonstationary wage sorting pattern is not due to compositional changes in the labor market, primarily occurs among high wage workers, and comprises 41 percent of the increase in the standard deviation of log real wages between 1980 and 2006. We show that the wage sorting trend is associated with worker...

Flow sorting in aquatic ecology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcus Reckermann

2000-06-01

Full Text Available Flow sorting can be a very helpful tool in revealing phytoplankton and bacterial community structure and elaborating specific physiological parameters of isolated species. Droplet sorting has been the most common technique. Despite the high optical and hydro-dynamic stress for the cells to be sorted, many species grow in culture subsequent to sorting. To date, flow sorting has been applied to post-incubation separation in natural water samples to account for group-specific physiological parameters (radiotracer-uptake rates, to the production of clonal or non-clonal cultures from mixtures, to the isolaton of cell groups from natural assemblages for molecular analyses, and for taxonomic identification of sorted cells by microscopy. The application of cell sorting from natural water samples from the Wadden Sea, including different cryptophytes, cyanobacteria and diatoms, is shown, as well as the establishment of laboratory cultures from field samples. The optional use of a red laser to account for phycocyanine-rich cells is also discussed.

Ore sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hawkins, A.P.; Richards, A.W.

1982-01-01

In an ore sorting apparatus, ore particles are bombarded with neutrons in a chamber and sorted by detecting radiation emitted by isotopes of elements, such as gold, forming or contained in the particles, using detectors and selectively controlling fluid jets. The isotopes can be selectively recognised by their radiation characteristics. In an alternative embodiment, shorter life isotopes are formed by neutron bombardment and detection of radiation takes place immediately adjacent the region of bombardment

The Utility of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Differential Diagnosis of Cognitive Disorders in Iranian Psychiatric Patients and Healthy Subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razieh Hashemi, MA

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: The Wisconsin Test Card Sorting Test (WCST is a neuropsychological test that has been suggested as a more specific test for frontal lobes dysfunctions. This study was designed to determine whether WCST is able to differentiate between Iranian psychiatric patients with cognitive disorders and normal subjects, and whether WCST scores are related to severity of symptoms in depressive and schizophrenic patients.Method: Participants were four groups: schizophrenics with positive symptoms (n=25; schizophrenics with negative symptoms (n=25; major depressives (n=25; and normal subjects (n=25. All subjects were tested individually using WCST. To analyze the data, various descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-test and multiple regression analysis were used.Results: Regarding the number of categories (P<0.001 and the rate of perseverative errors (P<0.01, according to the results, the normal subjects performed significantly better than patient groups on WCST, although the differences between patient groups were not significant. Our results also showed that greater positive or depressive symptoms were not associated with poorer scores on WCST performance. Only the level of severity of negative symptoms predicted scores on perseverative errors.Conclusion: It is concluded that WCST can differentiate Iranian psychiatric patients with cognitive disorders from normal subjects, but it is not able to clearly differentiate schizophrenic patients with negative symptoms from those with positive symptoms and depressives. Only severity of negative symptoms affects WCST performance

External parallel sorting with multiprocessor computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comanceau, S.I.

1984-01-01

This article describes methods of external sorting in which the entire main computer memory is used for the internal sorting of entries, forming out of them sorted segments of the greatest possible size, and outputting them to external memories. The obtained segments are merged into larger segments until all entries form one ordered segment. The described methods are suitable for sequential files stored on magnetic tape. The needs of the sorting algorithm can be met by using the relatively slow peripheral storage devices (e.g., tapes, disks, drums). The efficiency of the external sorting methods is determined by calculating the total sorting time as a function of the number of entries to be sorted and the number of parallel processors participating in the sorting process

Design and construction of automatic sorting station with machine vision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oscar D. Velasco-Delgado

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents the design, construction and testing of an automatic product sorting system in belt conveyor with machine vision that integrates Free and Open Source Software technology and Allen Bradley commercial equipment. Requirements are defined to determine features such as: mechanics of manufacturing station, an app of product sorting with machine vision and for automation system. For the app of machine vision a library is used for optical digital image processing Open CV, for the mechanical design of the manufacturing station is used the CAD tool Solid Edge and for the design and implementation of automation ISA standards are used along with an automation engineering project methodology integrating a PLC, an inverter, a Panel View and a DeviceNet Network. Performance tests are shown by classifying bottles and PVC pieces in four established types, the behavior of the integrated system is checked so as the efficiency of the same. The processing time on machine vision is 0.290 s on average for a piece of PVC, a capacity of 206 accessories per minute, for bottles was obtained a processing time of 0.267 s, a capacity of 224 bottles per minute. A maximum mechanical performance is obtained with 32 products per minute (1920 products/hour with the conveyor to 22 cm/s and 40 cm of distance between products obtaining an average error of 0.8%.

An algorithm for 4D CT image sorting using spatial continuity.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chen; Liu, Jie

2013-01-01

4D CT, which could locate the position of the movement of the tumor in the entire respiratory cycle and reduce image artifacts effectively, has been widely used in making radiation therapy of tumors. The current 4D CT methods required external surrogates of respiratory motion obtained from extra instruments. However, respiratory signals recorded by these external makers may not always accurately represent the internal tumor and organ movements, especially when irregular breathing patterns happened. In this paper we have proposed a novel automatic 4D CT sorting algorithm that performs without these external surrogates. The sorting algorithm requires collecting the image data with a cine scan protocol. Beginning with the first couch position, images from the adjacent couch position are selected out according to spatial continuity. The process is continued until images from all couch positions are sorted and the entire 3D volume is produced. The algorithm is verified by respiratory phantom image data and clinical image data. The primary test results show that the 4D CT images created by our algorithm have eliminated the motion artifacts effectively and clearly demonstrated the movement of tumor and organ in the breath period.

A spike sorting toolbox for up to thousands of electrodes validated with ground truth recordings in vitro and in vivo

Science.gov (United States)

Lefebvre, Baptiste; Deny, Stéphane; Gardella, Christophe; Stimberg, Marcel; Jetter, Florian; Zeck, Guenther; Picaud, Serge; Duebel, Jens

2018-01-01

In recent years, multielectrode arrays and large silicon probes have been developed to record simultaneously between hundreds and thousands of electrodes packed with a high density. However, they require novel methods to extract the spiking activity of large ensembles of neurons. Here, we developed a new toolbox to sort spikes from these large-scale extracellular data. To validate our method, we performed simultaneous extracellular and loose patch recordings in rodents to obtain ‘ground truth’ data, where the solution to this sorting problem is known for one cell. The performance of our algorithm was always close to the best expected performance, over a broad range of signal-to-noise ratios, in vitro and in vivo. The algorithm is entirely parallelized and has been successfully tested on recordings with up to 4225 electrodes. Our toolbox thus offers a generic solution to sort accurately spikes for up to thousands of electrodes. PMID:29557782

A novel automated spike sorting algorithm with adaptable feature extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Bestel, Robert; Daus, Andreas W; Thielemann, Christiane

2012-10-15

To study the electrophysiological properties of neuronal networks, in vitro studies based on microelectrode arrays have become a viable tool for analysis. Although in constant progress, a challenging task still remains in this area: the development of an efficient spike sorting algorithm that allows an accurate signal analysis at the single-cell level. Most sorting algorithms currently available only extract a specific feature type, such as the principal components or Wavelet coefficients of the measured spike signals in order to separate different spike shapes generated by different neurons. However, due to the great variety in the obtained spike shapes, the derivation of an optimal feature set is still a very complex issue that current algorithms struggle with. To address this problem, we propose a novel algorithm that (i) extracts a variety of geometric, Wavelet and principal component-based features and (ii) automatically derives a feature subset, most suitable for sorting an individual set of spike signals. Thus, there is a new approach that evaluates the probability distribution of the obtained spike features and consequently determines the candidates most suitable for the actual spike sorting. These candidates can be formed into an individually adjusted set of spike features, allowing a separation of the various shapes present in the obtained neuronal signal by a subsequent expectation maximisation clustering algorithm. Test results with simulated data files and data obtained from chick embryonic neurons cultured on microelectrode arrays showed an excellent classification result, indicating the superior performance of the described algorithm approach. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural spike sorting using iterative ICA and a deflation-based approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiganj, Z; Mboup, M

2012-12-01

We propose a spike sorting method for multi-channel recordings. When applied in neural recordings, the performance of the independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm is known to be limited, since the number of recording sites is much lower than the number of neurons. The proposed method uses an iterative application of ICA and a deflation technique in two nested loops. In each iteration of the external loop, the spiking activity of one neuron is singled out and then deflated from the recordings. The internal loop implements a sequence of ICA and sorting for removing the noise and all the spikes that are not fired by the targeted neuron. Then a final step is appended to the two nested loops in order to separate simultaneously fired spikes. We solve this problem by taking all possible pairs of the sorted neurons and apply ICA only on the segments of the signal during which at least one of the neurons in a given pair was active. We validate the performance of the proposed method on simulated recordings, but also on a specific type of real recordings: simultaneous extracellular-intracellular. We quantify the sorting results on the extracellular recordings for the spikes that come from the neurons recorded intracellularly. The results suggest that the proposed solution significantly improves the performance of ICA in spike sorting.

Layers in sorting practices: Sorting out patients with potential cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Naja Holten; Bjørn, Pernille

2011-01-01

for a particular patient. Due to the limited resources within the Danish healthcare system, initiating cancer pathways for all patients with a remote suspicion of cancer would crash the system, as it would be impossible for healthcare professionals to commit to the prescribed schedules and times defined...... they show that sorting patients before initiating a standardized cancer pathway is not a simple process of deciding on a predefined category that will stipulate particular dates and times. Instead, these informal sorting mechanisms show that the process of sorting patients prior to diagnosis......In the last couple of years, widespread use of standardized cancer pathways has been seen across a range of countries, including Denmark, to improve prognosis of cancer patients. In Denmark, standardized cancer pathways take the form of guidelines prescribing well-defined sequences where steps...

Sorting live stem cells based on Sox2 mRNA expression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans M Larsson

Full Text Available While cell sorting usually relies on cell-surface protein markers, molecular beacons (MBs offer the potential to sort cells based on the presence of any expressed mRNA and in principle could be extremely useful to sort rare cell populations from primary isolates. We show here how stem cells can be purified from mixed cell populations by sorting based on MBs. Specifically, we designed molecular beacons targeting Sox2, a well-known stem cell marker for murine embryonic (mES and neural stem cells (NSC. One of our designed molecular beacons displayed an increase in fluorescence compared to a nonspecific molecular beacon both in vitro and in vivo when tested in mES and NSCs. We sorted Sox2-MB(+SSEA1(+ cells from a mixed population of 4-day retinoic acid-treated mES cells and effectively isolated live undifferentiated stem cells. Additionally, Sox2-MB(+ cells isolated from primary mouse brains were sorted and generated neurospheres with higher efficiency than Sox2-MB(- cells. These results demonstrate the utility of MBs for stem cell sorting in an mRNA-specific manner.

Standard practice for cell sorting in a BSL-3 facility.

Science.gov (United States)

Perfetto, Stephen P; Ambrozak, David R; Nguyen, Richard; Roederer, Mario; Koup, Richard A; Holmes, Kevin L

2011-01-01

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid growth in the number of BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories in the USA and an increase in demand for infectious cell sorting in BSL-3 laboratories. In 2007, the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) Biosafety Committee published standards for the sorting of unfixed cells and is an important resource for biosafety procedures when performing infectious cell sorting. Following a careful risk assessment, if it is determined that a cell sorter must be located within a BSL-3 laboratory, there are a variety of factors to be considered prior to the establishment of the laboratory. This chapter outlines procedures for infectious cell sorting in a BSL-3 environment to facilitate the establishment and safe operation of a BSL-3 cell sorting laboratory. Subjects covered include containment verification, remote operation, disinfection, personal protective equipment (PPE), and instrument-specific modifications for enhanced aerosol evacuation.

MODELING WORK OF SORTING STATION USING UML

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. V. Gorbova

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of this paper is the construction of methods and models for the graphical representation process of sorting station, using the unified modeling language (UML. Methodology. Methods of graph theory, finite automata and the representation theory of queuing systems were used as the methods of investigation. A graphical representation of the process was implemented with using the Unified Modeling Language UML. The sorting station process representation is implemented as a state diagram and actions through a set of IBM Rational Rose. Graphs can show parallel operation of sorting station, the parallel existence and influence of objects process and the transition from one state to another. The IBM Rational Rose complex allows developing a diagram of work sequence of varying degrees of detailing. Findings. The study has developed a graphical representation method of the process of sorting station of different kind of complexity. All graphical representations are made using the UML. They are represented as a directed graph with the states. It is clear enough in the study of the subject area. Applying the methodology of the representation process, it allows becoming friendly with the work of any automation object very fast, and exploring the process during algorithms construction of sorting stations and other railway facilities. This model is implemented with using the Unified Modeling Language (UML using a combination of IBM Rational Rose. Originality. The representation process of sorting station was developed by means of the Unified Modeling Language (UML use. Methodology of representation process allows creating the directed graphs based on the order of execution of the works chain, objects and performers of these works. The UML allows visualizing, specifying, constructing and documenting, formalizing the representation process of sorting station and developing sequence diagrams of works of varying degrees of detail. Practical

Noise-robust unsupervised spike sorting based on discriminative subspace learning with outlier handling.

Science.gov (United States)

Keshtkaran, Mohammad Reza; Yang, Zhi

2017-06-01

Spike sorting is a fundamental preprocessing step for many neuroscience studies which rely on the analysis of spike trains. Most of the feature extraction and dimensionality reduction techniques that have been used for spike sorting give a projection subspace which is not necessarily the most discriminative one. Therefore, the clusters which appear inherently separable in some discriminative subspace may overlap if projected using conventional feature extraction approaches leading to a poor sorting accuracy especially when the noise level is high. In this paper, we propose a noise-robust and unsupervised spike sorting algorithm based on learning discriminative spike features for clustering. The proposed algorithm uses discriminative subspace learning to extract low dimensional and most discriminative features from the spike waveforms and perform clustering with automatic detection of the number of the clusters. The core part of the algorithm involves iterative subspace selection using linear discriminant analysis and clustering using Gaussian mixture model with outlier detection. A statistical test in the discriminative subspace is proposed to automatically detect the number of the clusters. Comparative results on publicly available simulated and real in vivo datasets demonstrate that our algorithm achieves substantially improved cluster distinction leading to higher sorting accuracy and more reliable detection of clusters which are highly overlapping and not detectable using conventional feature extraction techniques such as principal component analysis or wavelets. By providing more accurate information about the activity of more number of individual neurons with high robustness to neural noise and outliers, the proposed unsupervised spike sorting algorithm facilitates more detailed and accurate analysis of single- and multi-unit activities in neuroscience and brain machine interface studies.

Noise-robust unsupervised spike sorting based on discriminative subspace learning with outlier handling

Science.gov (United States)

Keshtkaran, Mohammad Reza; Yang, Zhi

2017-06-01

Objective. Spike sorting is a fundamental preprocessing step for many neuroscience studies which rely on the analysis of spike trains. Most of the feature extraction and dimensionality reduction techniques that have been used for spike sorting give a projection subspace which is not necessarily the most discriminative one. Therefore, the clusters which appear inherently separable in some discriminative subspace may overlap if projected using conventional feature extraction approaches leading to a poor sorting accuracy especially when the noise level is high. In this paper, we propose a noise-robust and unsupervised spike sorting algorithm based on learning discriminative spike features for clustering. Approach. The proposed algorithm uses discriminative subspace learning to extract low dimensional and most discriminative features from the spike waveforms and perform clustering with automatic detection of the number of the clusters. The core part of the algorithm involves iterative subspace selection using linear discriminant analysis and clustering using Gaussian mixture model with outlier detection. A statistical test in the discriminative subspace is proposed to automatically detect the number of the clusters. Main results. Comparative results on publicly available simulated and real in vivo datasets demonstrate that our algorithm achieves substantially improved cluster distinction leading to higher sorting accuracy and more reliable detection of clusters which are highly overlapping and not detectable using conventional feature extraction techniques such as principal component analysis or wavelets. Significance. By providing more accurate information about the activity of more number of individual neurons with high robustness to neural noise and outliers, the proposed unsupervised spike sorting algorithm facilitates more detailed and accurate analysis of single- and multi-unit activities in neuroscience and brain machine interface studies.

Efficient Architecture for Spike Sorting in Reconfigurable Hardware

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Wen-Jyi; Lee, Wei-Hao; Lin, Shiow-Jyu; Lai, Sheng-Ying

2013-01-01

This paper presents a novel hardware architecture for fast spike sorting. The architecture is able to perform both the feature extraction and clustering in hardware. The generalized Hebbian algorithm (GHA) and fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm are used for feature extraction and clustering, respectively. The employment of GHA allows efficient computation of principal components for subsequent clustering operations. The FCM is able to achieve near optimal clustering for spike sorting. Its performance is insensitive to the selection of initial cluster centers. The hardware implementations of GHA and FCM feature low area costs and high throughput. In the GHA architecture, the computation of different weight vectors share the same circuit for lowering the area costs. Moreover, in the FCM hardware implementation, the usual iterative operations for updating the membership matrix and cluster centroid are merged into one single updating process to evade the large storage requirement. To show the effectiveness of the circuit, the proposed architecture is physically implemented by field programmable gate array (FPGA). It is embedded in a System-on-Chip (SOC) platform for performance measurement. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture is an efficient spike sorting design for attaining high classification correct rate and high speed computation. PMID:24189331

Efficient Architecture for Spike Sorting in Reconfigurable Hardware

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng-Ying Lai

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel hardware architecture for fast spike sorting. The architecture is able to perform both the feature extraction and clustering in hardware. The generalized Hebbian algorithm (GHA and fuzzy C-means (FCM algorithm are used for feature extraction and clustering, respectively. The employment of GHA allows efficient computation of principal components for subsequent clustering operations. The FCM is able to achieve near optimal clustering for spike sorting. Its performance is insensitive to the selection of initial cluster centers. The hardware implementations of GHA and FCM feature low area costs and high throughput. In the GHA architecture, the computation of different weight vectors share the same circuit for lowering the area costs. Moreover, in the FCM hardware implementation, the usual iterative operations for updating the membership matrix and cluster centroid are merged into one single updating process to evade the large storage requirement. To show the effectiveness of the circuit, the proposed architecture is physically implemented by field programmable gate array (FPGA. It is embedded in a System-on-Chip (SOC platform for performance measurement. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture is an efficient spike sorting design for attaining high classification correct rate and high speed computation.

Chip-based droplet sorting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beer, Neil Reginald; Lee, Abraham; Hatch, Andrew

2017-11-21

A non-contact system for sorting monodisperse water-in-oil emulsion droplets in a microfluidic device based on the droplet's contents and their interaction with an applied electromagnetic field or by identification and sorting.

Coupling Bacterial Activity Measurements with Cell Sorting by Flow Cytometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Servais; Courties; Lebaron; Troussellier

1999-08-01

> Abstract A new procedure to investigate the relationship between bacterial cell size and activity at the cellular level has been developed; it is based on the coupling of radioactive labeling of bacterial cells and cell sorting by flow cytometry after SYTO 13 staining. Before sorting, bacterial cells were incubated in the presence of tritiated leucine using a procedure similar to that used for measuring bacterial production by leucine incorporation and then stained with SYTO 13. Subpopulations of bacterial cells were sorted according to their average right-angle light scatter (RALS) and fluorescence. Average RALS was shown to be significantly related to the average biovolume. Experiments were performed on samples collected at different times in a Mediterranean seawater mesocosm enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus. At four sampling times, bacteria were sorted in two subpopulations (cells smaller and larger than 0.25 µm(3)). The results indicate that, at each sampling time, the growth rate of larger cells was higher than that of smaller cells. In order to confirm this tendency, cell sorting was performed on six subpopulations differing in average biovolume during the mesocosm follow-up. A clear increase of the bacterial growth rates was observed with increasing cell size for the conditions met in this enriched mesocosm.http://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00248/bibs/38n2p180.html

Design of mechanical arm for an automatic sorting system of recyclable cans

Science.gov (United States)

Resti, Y.; Mohruni, A. S.; Burlian, F.; Yani, I.; Amran, A.

2018-04-01

The use of a mechanical arm for an automatic sorting system of used cans should be designed carefully. The right design will result in a high precision sorting rate and a short sorting time. The design includes first; design manipulator,second; determine link and joint specifications, and third; build mechanical systems and control systems. This study aims to design the mechanical arm as a hardware system for automatic cans sorting system. The material used for the manipulator is the aluminum plate. The manipulator is designed using 6 links and 6 join where the 6th link is the end effectorand the 6th join is the gripper. As a driving motor used servo motor, while as a microcontroller used Arduino Uno which is connected with Matlab programming language. Based on testing, a mechanical arm designed for this recyclable canned recycling system has a precision sorting rate at 93%, where the average total time required for sorting is 10.82 seconds.

Algorithm Sorts Groups Of Data

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, J. D.

1987-01-01

For efficient sorting, algorithm finds set containing minimum or maximum most significant data. Sets of data sorted as desired. Sorting process simplified by reduction of each multielement set of data to single representative number. First, each set of data expressed as polynomial with suitably chosen base, using elements of set as coefficients. Most significant element placed in term containing largest exponent. Base selected by examining range in value of data elements. Resulting series summed to yield single representative number. Numbers easily sorted, and each such number converted back to original set of data by successive division. Program written in BASIC.

Efficient Sorting on the Tilera Manycore Architecture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morari, Alessandro; Tumeo, Antonino; Villa, Oreste; Secchi, Simone; Valero, Mateo

2012-10-24

e present an efficient implementation of the radix sort algo- rithm for the Tilera TILEPro64 processor. The TILEPro64 is one of the first successful commercial manycore processors. It is com- posed of 64 tiles interconnected through multiple fast Networks- on-chip and features a fully coherent, shared distributed cache. The architecture has a large degree of flexibility, and allows various optimization strategies. We describe how we mapped the algorithm to this architecture. We present an in-depth analysis of the optimizations for each phase of the algorithm with respect to the processor’s sustained performance. We discuss the overall throughput reached by our radix sort implementation (up to 132 MK/s) and show that it provides comparable or better performance-per-watt with respect to state-of-the art implemen- tations on x86 processors and graphic processing units.

Consensus-Based Sorting of Neuronal Spike Waveforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fournier, Julien; Mueller, Christian M; Shein-Idelson, Mark; Hemberger, Mike; Laurent, Gilles

2016-01-01

Optimizing spike-sorting algorithms is difficult because sorted clusters can rarely be checked against independently obtained "ground truth" data. In most spike-sorting algorithms in use today, the optimality of a clustering solution is assessed relative to some assumption on the distribution of the spike shapes associated with a particular single unit (e.g., Gaussianity) and by visual inspection of the clustering solution followed by manual validation. When the spatiotemporal waveforms of spikes from different cells overlap, the decision as to whether two spikes should be assigned to the same source can be quite subjective, if it is not based on reliable quantitative measures. We propose a new approach, whereby spike clusters are identified from the most consensual partition across an ensemble of clustering solutions. Using the variability of the clustering solutions across successive iterations of the same clustering algorithm (template matching based on K-means clusters), we estimate the probability of spikes being clustered together and identify groups of spikes that are not statistically distinguishable from one another. Thus, we identify spikes that are most likely to be clustered together and therefore correspond to consistent spike clusters. This method has the potential advantage that it does not rely on any model of the spike shapes. It also provides estimates of the proportion of misclassified spikes for each of the identified clusters. We tested our algorithm on several datasets for which there exists a ground truth (simultaneous intracellular data), and show that it performs close to the optimum reached by a support vector machine trained on the ground truth. We also show that the estimated rate of misclassification matches the proportion of misclassified spikes measured from the ground truth data.

The impact of social threat cues on a card sorting task with attentional-shifting demands.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohlman, Jan; DeVito, Alyssa

2017-12-01

The current study investigated social anxiety and attentional control using two versions of a task designed to tap intentional shifting of attention and set switching: the standard Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; Heaton, 1981) and a modified version that included emotionally salient pictorial stimuli, the Emotional Faces Card Sorting Test (EFCST). A Group (lower-, higher-SPS) by Condition (WCST, EFCST) by Sorting Rule (color, form, number) interaction was expected in which the higher-SPS EFCST group would have worse overall performance and make more perseverative errors than the other groups. No differences were predicted on nonperseverative errors, which are typically caused by brief attentional lapses. Participants were 80 undergraduate students who scored in the upper and lower quartile of the distribution on the Social Phobia Scale (SPS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) were randomly assigned to complete either the WCST or EFCST. On the WCST, the higher-SPS group showed performance similar to that of the lower-SPS group. On the EFCST, the higher-SPS group evidenced more perseverative errors in the condition that depicted angry faces. Interpretations based on a non-clinical sample limit the generalisability of the conclusions. Reliability of this new measure has yet to be established. Successful completion of the WCST requires more than set-shifting processes. These results suggest that the higher-SPS group in the EFCST condition might have had trouble disengaging attention from threat-related cues, despite ongoing corrective feedback. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PhySortR: a fast, flexible tool for sorting phylogenetic trees in R.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Timothy G; Bhattacharya, Debashish; Ragan, Mark A; Chan, Cheong Xin

2016-01-01

A frequent bottleneck in interpreting phylogenomic output is the need to screen often thousands of trees for features of interest, particularly robust clades of specific taxa, as evidence of monophyletic relationship and/or reticulated evolution. Here we present PhySortR, a fast, flexible R package for classifying phylogenetic trees. Unlike existing utilities, PhySortR allows for identification of both exclusive and non-exclusive clades uniting the target taxa based on tip labels (i.e., leaves) on a tree, with customisable options to assess clades within the context of the whole tree. Using simulated and empirical datasets, we demonstrate the potential and scalability of PhySortR in analysis of thousands of phylogenetic trees without a priori assumption of tree-rooting, and in yielding readily interpretable trees that unambiguously satisfy the query. PhySortR is a command-line tool that is freely available and easily automatable.

Growth performance and sorting characteristics of corn silage-alfalfa haylage diets with or without forage dilution offered to replacement Holstein dairy heifers.

Science.gov (United States)

Coblentz, W K; Esser, N M; Hoffman, P C; Akins, M S

2015-11-01

Gravid heifers consuming high-quality forage diets are susceptible to excessive weight gains and overconditioning. One approach for controlling this problem is to dilute diets with low-energy forages, such as straw, that reduce the caloric density and dry matter intake (DMI) of that diet by heifers. These diluting agents are often sortable by dairy heifers, but previous visual evidence has suggested that eastern gamagrass haylage may be a nonsortable alternative. Our objectives were (1) to compare the growth performance of dairy heifers offered a high-quality forage diet (control) with diets containing 1 of 3 diluting agents [eastern gamagrass haylage (EGH), chopped wheat straw (WS), or chopped corn fodder (CF)]; and (2) evaluate sorting behaviors of heifers offered these forage diets. Holstein heifers (n=128) were stratified (32 heifers/block) on the basis of initial body weight (heavy, 560 ± 27.7 kg; medium-heavy, 481 ± 17.7 kg; medium-light, 441 ± 22.0 kg; and light, 399 ± 14.4 kg), and then assigned to 1 of 16 identical research pens (4 pens/block; 8 heifers/pen), where each of the 4 research diets were assigned to 1 pen within each block. Diets were offered in a 118-d feeding trial with heifers crowded to 133% of capacity at the feed bunk. Inclusion of low-energy forages was effective in reducing both diet energy density and DMI. Concentrations of physically effective fiber (pef) particles did not change during the 24-h period following feeding for either the control or EGH diets; however, this response for pef particles masked the competing (and cancelling) responses for individual large and medium particles, which heifers sorted with discrimination and preference, respectively. Sorting against pef particles was detected for WS, and much more severely for the CF diet. Sorting of forage particles by heifers could not be related to heifer performance. Compared with control (1.16 kg/d), average daily gains (ADG) were reduced by dilution in all cases, but

Sorting out Downside Beta

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G.T. Post (Thierry); P. van Vliet (Pim); S.D. Lansdorp (Simon)

2009-01-01

textabstractDownside risk, when properly defined and estimated, helps to explain the cross-section of US stock returns. Sorting stocks by a proper estimate of downside market beta leads to a substantially larger cross-sectional spread in average returns than sorting on regular market beta. This

Three Sorts of Naturalism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fink, Hans

2006-01-01

In "Two sorts of Naturalism" John McDowell is sketching his own sort of naturalism in ethics as an alternative to "bald naturalism". In this paper I distinguish materialist, idealist and absolute conceptions of nature and of naturalism in order to provide a framework for a clearer understanding...

Constructing Efficient Dictionaries in Close to Sorting Time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruzic, Milan

2008-01-01

to be a particularly challenging task. We present solutions to the static dictionary problem that significantly improve the previously known upper bounds and bring them close to obvious lower bounds. Our dictionaries have a constant lookup cost and use linear space, which was known to be possible, but the worst......-case cost of construction of the structures is proportional to only loglogn times the cost of sorting the input. Our claimed performance bounds are obtained in the word RAM model and in the external memory models; only the involved sorting procedures in the algorithms need to be changed between the models....

Sorting waves and associated eigenvalues

Science.gov (United States)

Carbonari, Costanza; Colombini, Marco; Solari, Luca

2017-04-01

The presence of mixed sediment always characterizes gravel bed rivers. Sorting processes take place during bed load transport of heterogeneous sediment mixtures. The two main elements necessary to the occurrence of sorting are the heterogeneous character of sediments and the presence of an active sediment transport. When these two key ingredients are simultaneously present, the segregation of bed material is consistently detected both in the field [7] and in laboratory [3] observations. In heterogeneous sediment transport, bed altimetric variations and sorting always coexist and both mechanisms are independently capable of driving the formation of morphological patterns. Indeed, consistent patterns of longitudinal and transverse sorting are identified almost ubiquitously. In some cases, such as bar formation [2] and channel bends [5], sorting acts as a stabilizing effect and therefore the dominant mechanism driving pattern formation is associated with bed altimetric variations. In other cases, such as longitudinal streaks, sorting enhances system instability and can therefore be considered the prevailing mechanism. Bedload sheets, first observed by Khunle and Southard [1], represent another classic example of a morphological pattern essentially triggered by sorting, as theoretical [4] and experimental [3] results suggested. These sorting waves cause strong spatial and temporal fluctuations of bedload transport rate typical observed in gravel bed rivers. The problem of bed load transport of a sediment mixture is formulated in the framework of a 1D linear stability analysis. The base state consists of a uniform flow in an infinitely wide channel with active bed load transport. The behaviour of the eigenvalues associated with fluid motion, bed evolution and sorting processes in the space of the significant flow and sediment parameters is analysed. A comparison is attempted with the results of the theoretical analysis of Seminara Colombini and Parker [4] and Stecca

Efficiency at Sorting Cards in Compressed Air

Science.gov (United States)

Poulton, E. C.; Catton, M. J.; Carpenter, A.

1964-01-01

At a site where compressed air was being used in the construction of a tunnel, 34 men sorted cards twice, once at normal atmospheric pressure and once at 3½, 2½, or 2 atmospheres absolute pressure. An additional six men sorted cards twice at normal atmospheric pressure. When the task was carried out for the first time, all the groups of men performing at raised pressure were found to yield a reliably greater proportion of very slow responses than the group of men performing at normal pressure. There was reliably more variability in timing at 3½ and 2½ atmospheres absolute than at normal pressure. At 3½ atmospheres absolute the average performance was also reliably slower. When the task was carried out for the second time, exposure to 3½ atmospheres absolute pressure had no reliable effect. Thus compressed air affected performance only while the task was being learnt; it had little effect after practice. No reliable differences were found related to age, to length of experience in compressed air, or to the duration of the exposure to compressed air, which was never less than 10 minutes at 3½ atmospheres absolute pressure. PMID:14180485

CellSort: a support vector machine tool for optimizing fluorescence-activated cell sorting and reducing experimental effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jessica S; Pertusi, Dante A; Adeniran, Adebola V; Tyo, Keith E J

2017-03-15

High throughput screening by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) is a common task in protein engineering and directed evolution. It can also be a rate-limiting step if high false positive or negative rates necessitate multiple rounds of enrichment. Current FACS software requires the user to define sorting gates by intuition and is practically limited to two dimensions. In cases when multiple rounds of enrichment are required, the software cannot forecast the enrichment effort required. We have developed CellSort, a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm that identifies optimal sorting gates based on machine learning using positive and negative control populations. CellSort can take advantage of more than two dimensions to enhance the ability to distinguish between populations. We also present a Bayesian approach to predict the number of sorting rounds required to enrich a population from a given library size. This Bayesian approach allowed us to determine strategies for biasing the sorting gates in order to reduce the required number of enrichment rounds. This algorithm should be generally useful for improve sorting outcomes and reducing effort when using FACS. Source code available at http://tyolab.northwestern.edu/tools/ . k-tyo@northwestern.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

A New Algorithm Using the Non-Dominated Tree to Improve Non-Dominated Sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Gustavsson, Patrik; Syberfeldt, Anna

2018-01-01

Non-dominated sorting is a technique often used in evolutionary algorithms to determine the quality of solutions in a population. The most common algorithm is the Fast Non-dominated Sort (FNS). This algorithm, however, has the drawback that its performance deteriorates when the population size grows. The same drawback applies also to other non-dominating sorting algorithms such as the Efficient Non-dominated Sort with Binary Strategy (ENS-BS). An algorithm suggested to overcome this drawback is the Divide-and-Conquer Non-dominated Sort (DCNS) which works well on a limited number of objectives but deteriorates when the number of objectives grows. This article presents a new, more efficient algorithm called the Efficient Non-dominated Sort with Non-Dominated Tree (ENS-NDT). ENS-NDT is an extension of the ENS-BS algorithm and uses a novel Non-Dominated Tree (NDTree) to speed up the non-dominated sorting. ENS-NDT is able to handle large population sizes and a large number of objectives more efficiently than existing algorithms for non-dominated sorting. In the article, it is shown that with ENS-NDT the runtime of multi-objective optimization algorithms such as the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) can be substantially reduced.

Surface acoustic wave actuated cell sorting (SAWACS).

Science.gov (United States)

Franke, T; Braunmüller, S; Schmid, L; Wixforth, A; Weitz, D A

2010-03-21

We describe a novel microfluidic cell sorter which operates in continuous flow at high sorting rates. The device is based on a surface acoustic wave cell-sorting scheme and combines many advantages of fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and fluorescence activated droplet sorting (FADS) in microfluidic channels. It is fully integrated on a PDMS device, and allows fast electronic control of cell diversion. We direct cells by acoustic streaming excited by a surface acoustic wave which deflects the fluid independently of the contrast in material properties of deflected objects and the continuous phase; thus the device underlying principle works without additional enhancement of the sorting by prior labelling of the cells with responsive markers such as magnetic or polarizable beads. Single cells are sorted directly from bulk media at rates as fast as several kHz without prior encapsulation into liquid droplet compartments as in traditional FACS. We have successfully directed HaCaT cells (human keratinocytes), fibroblasts from mice and MV3 melanoma cells. The low shear forces of this sorting method ensure that cells survive after sorting.

A degradation-based sorting method for lithium-ion battery reuse.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Chen

Full Text Available In a world where millions of people are dependent on batteries to provide them with convenient and portable energy, battery recycling is of the utmost importance. In this paper, we developed a new method to sort 18650 Lithium-ion batteries in large quantities and in real time for harvesting used cells with enough capacity for battery reuse. Internal resistance and capacity tests were conducted as a basis for comparison with a novel degradation-based method based on X-ray radiographic scanning and digital image contrast computation. The test results indicate that the sorting accuracy of the test cells is about 79% and the execution time of our algorithm is at a level of 200 milliseconds, making our method a potential real-time solution for reusing the remaining capacity in good used cells.

Adaptive differential correspondence imaging based on sorting technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heng Wu

2017-04-01

Full Text Available We develop an adaptive differential correspondence imaging (CI method using a sorting technique. Different from the conventional CI schemes, the bucket detector signals (BDS are first processed by a differential technique, and then sorted in a descending (or ascending order. Subsequently, according to the front and last several frames of the sorted BDS, the positive and negative subsets (PNS are created by selecting the relative frames from the reference detector signals. Finally, the object image is recovered from the PNS. Besides, an adaptive method based on two-step iteration is designed to select the optimum number of frames. To verify the proposed method, a single-detector computational ghost imaging (GI setup is constructed. We experimentally and numerically compare the performance of the proposed method with different GI algorithms. The results show that our method can improve the reconstruction quality and reduce the computation cost by using fewer measurement data.

A Novel and Simple Spike Sorting Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrantonakis, Panagiotis C; Poirazi, Panayiota

2017-04-01

Monitoring the activity of multiple, individual neurons that fire spikes in the vicinity of an electrode, namely perform a Spike Sorting (SS) procedure, comprises one of the most important tools for contemporary neuroscience in order to reverse-engineer the brain. As recording electrodes' technology rabidly evolves by integrating thousands of electrodes in a confined spatial setting, the algorithms that are used to monitor individual neurons from recorded signals have to become even more reliable and computationally efficient. In this work, we propose a novel framework of the SS approach in which a single-step processing of the raw (unfiltered) extracellular signal is sufficient for both the detection and sorting of the activity of individual neurons. Despite its simplicity, the proposed approach exhibits comparable performance with state-of-the-art approaches, especially for spike detection in noisy signals, and paves the way for a new family of SS algorithms with the potential for multi-recording, fast, on-chip implementations.

In-Line Sorting of Harumanis Mango Based on External Quality Using Visible Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Mohd Firdaus; Ahmad Sa'ad, Fathinul Syahir; Zakaria, Ammar; Md Shakaff, Ali Yeon

2016-10-27

The conventional method of grading Harumanis mango is time-consuming, costly and affected by human bias. In this research, an in-line system was developed to classify Harumanis mango using computer vision. The system was able to identify the irregularity of mango shape and its estimated mass. A group of images of mangoes of different size and shape was used as database set. Some important features such as length, height, centroid and parameter were extracted from each image. Fourier descriptor and size-shape parameters were used to describe the mango shape while the disk method was used to estimate the mass of the mango. Four features have been selected by stepwise discriminant analysis which was effective in sorting regular and misshapen mango. The volume from water displacement method was compared with the volume estimated by image processing using paired t -test and Bland-Altman method. The result between both measurements was not significantly different (P > 0.05). The average correct classification for shape classification was 98% for a training set composed of 180 mangoes. The data was validated with another testing set consist of 140 mangoes which have the success rate of 92%. The same set was used for evaluating the performance of mass estimation. The average success rate of the classification for grading based on its mass was 94%. The results indicate that the in-line sorting system using machine vision has a great potential in automatic fruit sorting according to its shape and mass.

Dielectrophoretic focusing integrated pulsed laser activated cell sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xiongfeng; Kung, Yu-Chun; Wu, Ting-Hsiang; Teitell, Michael A.; Chiou, Pei-Yu

2017-08-01

We present a pulsed laser activated cell sorter (PLACS) integrated with novel sheathless size-independent dielectrophoretic (DEP) focusing. Microfluidic fluorescence activated cell sorting (μFACS) systems aim to provide a fully enclosed environment for sterile cell sorting and integration with upstream and downstream microfluidic modules. Among them, PLACS has shown a great potential in achieving comparable performance to commercial aerosol-based FACS (>90% purity at 25,000 cells sec-1). However conventional sheath flow focusing method suffers a severe sample dilution issue. Here we demonstrate a novel dielectrophoresis-integrated pulsed laser activated cell sorter (DEP-PLACS). It consists of a microfluidic channel with 3D electrodes laid out to provide a tunnel-shaped electric field profile along a 4cmlong channel for sheathlessly focusing microparticles/cells into a single stream in high-speed microfluidic flows. All focused particles pass through the fluorescence detection zone along the same streamline regardless of their sizes and types. Upon detection of target fluorescent particles, a nanosecond laser pulse is triggered and focused in a neighboring channel to generate a rapidly expanding cavitation bubble for precise sorting. DEP-PLACS has achieved a sorting purity of 91% for polystyrene beads at a throughput of 1,500 particle/sec.

Unsupervised neural spike sorting for high-density microelectrode arrays with convolutive independent component analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Leibig, Christian; Wachtler, Thomas; Zeck, Günther

2016-09-15

Unsupervised identification of action potentials in multi-channel extracellular recordings, in particular from high-density microelectrode arrays with thousands of sensors, is an unresolved problem. While independent component analysis (ICA) achieves rapid unsupervised sorting, it ignores the convolutive structure of extracellular data, thus limiting the unmixing to a subset of neurons. Here we present a spike sorting algorithm based on convolutive ICA (cICA) to retrieve a larger number of accurately sorted neurons than with instantaneous ICA while accounting for signal overlaps. Spike sorting was applied to datasets with varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNR: 3-12) and 27% spike overlaps, sampled at either 11.5 or 23kHz on 4365 electrodes. We demonstrate how the instantaneity assumption in ICA-based algorithms has to be relaxed in order to improve the spike sorting performance for high-density microelectrode array recordings. Reformulating the convolutive mixture as an instantaneous mixture by modeling several delayed samples jointly is necessary to increase signal-to-noise ratio. Our results emphasize that different cICA algorithms are not equivalent. Spike sorting performance was assessed with ground-truth data generated from experimentally derived templates. The presented spike sorter was able to extract ≈90% of the true spike trains with an error rate below 2%. It was superior to two alternative (c)ICA methods (≈80% accurately sorted neurons) and comparable to a supervised sorting. Our new algorithm represents a fast solution to overcome the current bottleneck in spike sorting of large datasets generated by simultaneous recording with thousands of electrodes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnet sorting algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dinev, D.

1996-01-01

Several new algorithms for sorting of dipole and/or quadrupole magnets in synchrotrons and storage rings are described. The algorithms make use of a combinatorial approach to the problem and belong to the class of random search algorithms. They use an appropriate metrization of the state space. The phase-space distortion (smear) is used as a goal function. Computational experiments for the case of the JINR-Dubna superconducting heavy ion synchrotron NUCLOTRON have shown a significant reduction of the phase-space distortion after the magnet sorting. (orig.)

Online sorting of recovered wood waste by automated XRF-technology: part II. Sorting efficiencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, A Rasem; Solo-Gabriele, Helena; Townsend, Timothy

2011-04-01

Sorting of waste wood is an important process practiced at recycling facilities in order to detect and divert contaminants from recycled wood products. Contaminants of concern include arsenic, chromium and copper found in chemically preserved wood. The objective of this research was to evaluate the sorting efficiencies of both treated and untreated parts of the wood waste stream, and metal (As, Cr and Cu) mass recoveries by the use of automated X-ray fluorescence (XRF) systems. A full-scale system was used for experimentation. This unit consisted of an XRF-detection chamber mounted on the top of a conveyor and a pneumatic slide-way diverter which sorted wood into presumed treated and presumed untreated piles. A randomized block design was used to evaluate the operational conveyance parameters of the system, including wood feed rate and conveyor belt speed. Results indicated that online sorting efficiencies of waste wood by XRF technology were high based on number and weight of pieces (70-87% and 75-92% for treated wood and 66-97% and 68-96% for untreated wood, respectively). These sorting efficiencies achieved mass recovery for metals of 81-99% for As, 75-95% for Cu and 82-99% of Cr. The incorrect sorting of wood was attributed almost equally to deficiencies in the detection and conveyance/diversion systems. Even with its deficiencies, the system was capable of producing a recyclable portion that met residential soil quality levels established for Florida, for an infeed that contained 5% of treated wood. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pengembangan Algoritma Pengurutan SMS (Scan, Move, And Sort)

OpenAIRE

Lubis, Denni Aprilsyah

2015-01-01

Sorting has been a profound area for the algorithmic researchers. And many resources are invested to suggest a more working sorting algorithm. For this purpose many existing sorting algorithms were observed in terms of the efficiency of the algorithmic complexity. Efficient sorting is important to optimize the use of other algorithms that require sorted lists to work correctly. sorting has been considered as a fundamental problem in the study of algorithms that due to many reas...

Energy efficient data sorting using standard sorting algorithms

KAUST Repository

Bunse, Christian; Hö pfner, Hagen; Roychoudhury, Suman; Mansour, Essam

2011-01-01

Protecting the environment by saving energy and thus reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of todays hottest and most challenging topics. Although the perspective for reducing energy consumption, from ecological and business perspectives is clear, from a technological point of view, the realization especially for mobile systems still falls behind expectations. Novel strategies that allow (software) systems to dynamically adapt themselves at runtime can be effectively used to reduce energy consumption. This paper presents a case study that examines the impact of using an energy management component that dynamically selects and applies the "optimal" sorting algorithm, from an energy perspective, during multi-party mobile communication. Interestingly, the results indicate that algorithmic performance is not key and that dynamically switching algorithms at runtime does have a significant impact on energy consumption. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.

School accountability Incentives or sorting?

OpenAIRE

Hege Marie Gjefsen; Trude Gunnes

2015-01-01

We exploit a nested school accountability reform to estimate the causal effect on teacher mobility, sorting, and student achievement. In 2003, lower-secondary schools in Oslo became accountable to the school district authority for student achievement. In 2005, information on school performance in lower secondary education also became public. Using a difference-in-difference-in-difference approach, we find a significant increase in teacher mobility and that almost all non-stayers leave the tea...

Word Sorts for General Music Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Cardany, Audrey Berger

2015-01-01

Word sorts are standard practice for aiding children in acquiring skills in English language arts. When included in the general music classroom, word sorts may aid students in acquiring a working knowledge of music vocabulary. The author shares a word sort activity drawn from vocabulary in John Lithgow's children's book "Never Play…

A Sequence of Sorting Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, David R.; Litwiller, Bonnie H.

1984-01-01

Describes eight increasingly sophisticated and efficient sorting algorithms including linear insertion, binary insertion, shellsort, bubble exchange, shakersort, quick sort, straight selection, and tree selection. Provides challenges for the reader and the student to program these efficiently. (JM)

A Proposed Analytical Model for Integrated Pick-and-Sort Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Recep KIZILASLAN

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In this study we present an analytical approach for integration of order picking and sortation operations which are the most important, labour intensive and costly activity for warehouses. Main aim is to investigate order picking and sorting efficiencies under different design issues as a function of order wave size. Integrated analytical model is proposed to estimate the optimum order picking and order sortation efficiency. The model, which has been tested by simulations with different illustrative examples, calculates the optimum wave size that solves the trade-off between picking and sorting operations and makes the order picking and sortations efficiency maximum. Our model also allow system designer to predict the order picking and sorting capacity for different system configurations. This study presents an innovative approach for integrated warehouse operations.

Fixing the Sorting Algorithm for Android, Java and Python

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.P.T. de Gouw (Stijn); F.S. de Boer (Frank)

2015-01-01

htmlabstractTim Peters developed the Timsort hybrid sorting algorithm in 2002. TimSort was first developed for Python, a popular programming language, but later ported to Java (where it appears as java.util.Collections.sort and java.util.Arrays.sort). TimSort is today used as the default sorting

Quartile and Outlier Detection on Heterogeneous Clusters Using Distributed Radix Sort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meredith, Jeremy S.; Vetter, Jeffrey S.

2011-01-01

In the past few years, performance improvements in CPUs and memory technologies have outpaced those of storage systems. When extrapolated to the exascale, this trend places strict limits on the amount of data that can be written to disk for full analysis, resulting in an increased reliance on characterizing in-memory data. Many of these characterizations are simple, but require sorted data. This paper explores an example of this type of characterization - the identification of quartiles and statistical outliers - and presents a performance analysis of a distributed heterogeneous radix sort as well as an assessment of current architectural bottlenecks.

Computer versus paper--does it make any difference in test performance?

Science.gov (United States)

Karay, Yassin; Schauber, Stefan K; Stosch, Christoph; Schüttpelz-Brauns, Katrin

2015-01-01

CONSTRUCT: In this study, we examine the differences in test performance between the paper-based and the computer-based version of the Berlin formative Progress Test. In this context it is the first study that allows controlling for students' prior performance. Computer-based tests make possible a more efficient examination procedure for test administration and review. Although university staff will benefit largely from computer-based tests, the question arises if computer-based tests influence students' test performance. A total of 266 German students from the 9th and 10th semester of medicine (comparable with the 4th-year North American medical school schedule) participated in the study (paper = 132, computer = 134). The allocation of the test format was conducted as a randomized matched-pair design in which students were first sorted according to their prior test results. The organizational procedure, the examination conditions, the room, and seating arrangements, as well as the order of questions and answers, were identical in both groups. The sociodemographic variables and pretest scores of both groups were comparable. The test results from the paper and computer versions did not differ. The groups remained within the allotted time, but students using the computer version (particularly the high performers) needed significantly less time to complete the test. In addition, we found significant differences in guessing behavior. Low performers using the computer version guess significantly more than low-performing students in the paper-pencil version. Participants in computer-based tests are not at a disadvantage in terms of their test results. The computer-based test required less processing time. The reason for the longer processing time when using the paper-pencil version might be due to the time needed to write the answer down, controlling for transferring the answer correctly. It is still not known why students using the computer version (particularly low-performing

A Preliminary Study of MSD-First Radix-Sorting Methed

OpenAIRE

小田, 哲久

1984-01-01

Many kinds of sorting algorithms have been developed from the age of Punched Card System. Nowadays, any sorting algorithm can be called either (1) internal sorting methed or (2) external sorting method. Internal sorting method is used only when the number of records to be sorted (N) is not so large for the internal memory of the computer system. Larger memory space has become available with the aid of semiconductor technology. Therefore, it might be desired to develop a new internal sorting m...

Stochastic Model of Vesicular Sorting in Cellular Organelles

Science.gov (United States)

Vagne, Quentin; Sens, Pierre

2018-02-01

The proper sorting of membrane components by regulated exchange between cellular organelles is crucial to intracellular organization. This process relies on the budding and fusion of transport vesicles, and should be strongly influenced by stochastic fluctuations, considering the relatively small size of many organelles. We identify the perfect sorting of two membrane components initially mixed in a single compartment as a first passage process, and we show that the mean sorting time exhibits two distinct regimes as a function of the ratio of vesicle fusion to budding rates. Low ratio values lead to fast sorting but result in a broad size distribution of sorted compartments dominated by small entities. High ratio values result in two well-defined sorted compartments but sorting is exponentially slow. Our results suggest an optimal balance between vesicle budding and fusion for the rapid and efficient sorting of membrane components and highlight the importance of stochastic effects for the steady-state organization of intracellular compartments.

In-Line Sorting of Harumanis Mango Based on External Quality Using Visible Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Mohd Firdaus; Ahmad Sa’ad, Fathinul Syahir; Zakaria, Ammar; Md Shakaff, Ali Yeon

2016-01-01

The conventional method of grading Harumanis mango is time-consuming, costly and affected by human bias. In this research, an in-line system was developed to classify Harumanis mango using computer vision. The system was able to identify the irregularity of mango shape and its estimated mass. A group of images of mangoes of different size and shape was used as database set. Some important features such as length, height, centroid and parameter were extracted from each image. Fourier descriptor and size-shape parameters were used to describe the mango shape while the disk method was used to estimate the mass of the mango. Four features have been selected by stepwise discriminant analysis which was effective in sorting regular and misshapen mango. The volume from water displacement method was compared with the volume estimated by image processing using paired t-test and Bland-Altman method. The result between both measurements was not significantly different (P > 0.05). The average correct classification for shape classification was 98% for a training set composed of 180 mangoes. The data was validated with another testing set consist of 140 mangoes which have the success rate of 92%. The same set was used for evaluating the performance of mass estimation. The average success rate of the classification for grading based on its mass was 94%. The results indicate that the in-line sorting system using machine vision has a great potential in automatic fruit sorting according to its shape and mass. PMID:27801799

In-Line Sorting of Harumanis Mango Based on External Quality Using Visible Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Firdaus Ibrahim

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The conventional method of grading Harumanis mango is time-consuming, costly and affected by human bias. In this research, an in-line system was developed to classify Harumanis mango using computer vision. The system was able to identify the irregularity of mango shape and its estimated mass. A group of images of mangoes of different size and shape was used as database set. Some important features such as length, height, centroid and parameter were extracted from each image. Fourier descriptor and size-shape parameters were used to describe the mango shape while the disk method was used to estimate the mass of the mango. Four features have been selected by stepwise discriminant analysis which was effective in sorting regular and misshapen mango. The volume from water displacement method was compared with the volume estimated by image processing using paired t-test and Bland-Altman method. The result between both measurements was not significantly different (P > 0.05. The average correct classification for shape classification was 98% for a training set composed of 180 mangoes. The data was validated with another testing set consist of 140 mangoes which have the success rate of 92%. The same set was used for evaluating the performance of mass estimation. The average success rate of the classification for grading based on its mass was 94%. The results indicate that the in-line sorting system using machine vision has a great potential in automatic fruit sorting according to its shape and mass.

A real time sorting algorithm to time sort any deterministic time disordered data stream

Science.gov (United States)

Saini, J.; Mandal, S.; Chakrabarti, A.; Chattopadhyay, S.

2017-12-01

In new generation high intensity high energy physics experiments, millions of free streaming high rate data sources are to be readout. Free streaming data with associated time-stamp can only be controlled by thresholds as there is no trigger information available for the readout. Therefore, these readouts are prone to collect large amount of noise and unwanted data. For this reason, these experiments can have output data rate of several orders of magnitude higher than the useful signal data rate. It is therefore necessary to perform online processing of the data to extract useful information from the full data set. Without trigger information, pre-processing on the free streaming data can only be done with time based correlation among the data set. Multiple data sources have different path delays and bandwidth utilizations and therefore the unsorted merged data requires significant computational efforts for real time manifestation of sorting before analysis. Present work reports a new high speed scalable data stream sorting algorithm with its architectural design, verified through Field programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based hardware simulation. Realistic time based simulated data likely to be collected in an high energy physics experiment have been used to study the performance of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm uses parallel read-write blocks with added memory management and zero suppression features to make it efficient for high rate data-streams. This algorithm is best suited for online data streams with deterministic time disorder/unsorting on FPGA like hardware.

Categorizing Variations of Student-Implemented Sorting Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Taherkhani, Ahmad; Korhonen, Ari; Malmi, Lauri

2012-01-01

In this study, we examined freshmen students' sorting algorithm implementations in data structures and algorithms' course in two phases: at the beginning of the course before the students received any instruction on sorting algorithms, and after taking a lecture on sorting algorithms. The analysis revealed that many students have insufficient…

On the Construction of Sorted Reactive Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Birkedal, Lars; Debois, Søren; Hildebrandt, Thomas

2008-01-01

We develop a theory of sorted bigraphical reactive systems. Every application of bigraphs in the literature has required an extension, a sorting, of pure bigraphs. In turn, every such application has required a redevelopment of the theory of pure bigraphical reactive systems for the sorting at hand...... bigraphs. Technically, we give our construction for ordinary reactive systems, then lift it to bigraphical reactive systems. As such, we give also a construction of sortings for ordinary reactive systems. This construction is an improvement over previous attempts in that it produces smaller and much more...

Low power and high accuracy spike sorting microprocessor with on-line interpolation and re-alignment in 90 nm CMOS process.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Tung-Chien; Ma, Tsung-Chuan; Chen, Yun-Yu; Chen, Liang-Gee

2012-01-01

Accurate spike sorting is an important issue for neuroscientific and neuroprosthetic applications. The sorting of spikes depends on the features extracted from the neural waveforms, and a better sorting performance usually comes with a higher sampling rate (SR). However for the long duration experiments on free-moving subjects, the miniaturized and wireless neural recording ICs are the current trend, and the compromise on sorting accuracy is usually made by a lower SR for the lower power consumption. In this paper, we implement an on-chip spike sorting processor with integrated interpolation hardware in order to improve the performance in terms of power versus accuracy. According to the fabrication results in 90nm process, if the interpolation is appropriately performed during the spike sorting, the system operated at the SR of 12.5 k samples per second (sps) can outperform the one not having interpolation at 25 ksps on both accuracy and power.

Implementation of Serial and Parallel Bubble Sort on Fpga

OpenAIRE

Purnomo, Dwi Marhaendro Jati; Arinaldi, Ahmad; Priyantini, Dwi Teguh; Wibisono, Ari; Febrian, Andreas

2016-01-01

Sorting is common process in computational world. Its utilization are on many fields from research to industry. There are many sorting algorithm in nowadays. One of the simplest yet powerful is bubble sort. In this study, bubble sort is implemented on FPGA. The implementation was taken on serial and parallel approach. Serial and parallel bubble sort then compared by means of its memory, execution time, and utility which comprises slices and LUTs. The experiments show that serial bubble sort r...

Safe sorting of GFP-transduced live cells for subsequent culture using a modified FACS vantage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, T U; Gram, G J; Nielsen, S D

1999-01-01

BACKGROUND: A stream-in-air cell sorter enables rapid sorting to a high purity, but it is not well suited for sorting of infectious material due to the risk of airborne spread to the surroundings. METHODS: A FACS Vantage cell sorter was modified for safe use with potentially HIV infected cells...... culture. CONCLUSIONS: Sorting of live infected cells can be performed safely and with no deleterious effects on vector expression using the modified FACS Vantage instrument....

A Comparison of Card-sorting Analysis Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nawaz, Ather

2012-01-01

This study investigates how the choice of analysis method for card sorting studies affects the suggested information structure for websites. In the card sorting technique, a variety of methods are used to analyse the resulting data. The analysis of card sorting data helps user experience (UX......) designers to discover the patterns in how users make classifications and thus to develop an optimal, user-centred website structure. During analysis, the recurrence of patterns of classification between users influences the resulting website structure. However, the algorithm used in the analysis influences...... the recurrent patterns found and thus has consequences for the resulting website design. This paper draws an attention to the choice of card sorting analysis and techniques and shows how it impacts the results. The research focuses on how the same data for card sorting can lead to different website structures...

A real-time spike sorting method based on the embedded GPU.

Science.gov (United States)

Zelan Yang; Kedi Xu; Xiang Tian; Shaomin Zhang; Xiaoxiang Zheng

2017-07-01

Microelectrode arrays with hundreds of channels have been widely used to acquire neuron population signals in neuroscience studies. Online spike sorting is becoming one of the most important challenges for high-throughput neural signal acquisition systems. Graphic processing unit (GPU) with high parallel computing capability might provide an alternative solution for increasing real-time computational demands on spike sorting. This study reported a method of real-time spike sorting through computing unified device architecture (CUDA) which was implemented on an embedded GPU (NVIDIA JETSON Tegra K1, TK1). The sorting approach is based on the principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means. By analyzing the parallelism of each process, the method was further optimized in the thread memory model of GPU. Our results showed that the GPU-based classifier on TK1 is 37.92 times faster than the MATLAB-based classifier on PC while their accuracies were the same with each other. The high-performance computing features of embedded GPU demonstrated in our studies suggested that the embedded GPU provide a promising platform for the real-time neural signal processing.

How to develop a Standard Operating Procedure for sorting unfixed cells

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Ingrid

2012-01-01

Written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are an important tool to assure that recurring tasks in a laboratory are performed in a consistent manner. When the procedure covered in the SOP involves a high-risk activity such as sorting unfixed cells using a jet-in-air sorter, safety elements are critical components of the document. The details on sort sample handling, sorter set-up, validation, operation, troubleshooting, and maintenance, personal protective equipment (PPE), and operator training, outlined in the SOP are to be based on careful risk assessment of the procedure. This review provides background information on the hazards associated with sorting of unfixed cells and the process used to arrive at the appropriate combination of facility design, instrument placement, safety equipment, and practices to be followed. PMID:22381383

How to develop a standard operating procedure for sorting unfixed cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Ingrid

2012-07-01

Written standard operating procedures (SOPs) are an important tool to assure that recurring tasks in a laboratory are performed in a consistent manner. When the procedure covered in the SOP involves a high-risk activity such as sorting unfixed cells using a jet-in-air sorter, safety elements are critical components of the document. The details on sort sample handling, sorter set-up, validation, operation, troubleshooting, and maintenance, personal protective equipment (PPE), and operator training, outlined in the SOP are to be based on careful risk assessment of the procedure. This review provides background information on the hazards associated with sorting of unfixed cells and the process used to arrive at the appropriate combination of facility design, instrument placement, safety equipment, and practices to be followed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Three Sorts of Naturalism

OpenAIRE

Fink, Hans

2006-01-01

In "Two sorts of Naturalism" John McDowell is sketching his own sort of naturalism in ethics as an alternative to "bald naturalism". In this paper I distinguish materialist, idealist and absolute conceptions of nature and of naturalism in order to provide a framework for a clearer understanding of what McDowell's own naturalism amounts to. I argue that nothing short of an absolute naturalism will do for a number of McDowell's own purposes, but that it is far from obvious that this is his posi...

Application of radix sorting in high energy physics experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xuan; Gu Minhao; Zhu Kejun

2012-01-01

In the high energy physics experiments, there are always requirements to sort the large scale of experiment data. To meet the demand, this paper introduces one radix sorting algorithms, whose sub-sort is counting sorting and time complex is O (n), based on the characteristic of high energy physics experiment data that is marked by time stamp. This paper gives the description, analysis, implementation and experimental result of the sorting algorithms. (authors)

Experience and problems of the automated measuring and sorting of sealed radiation sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shmidt, G.

1979-01-01

It has been shown that with the help of a serial device for samples changing and a mini-computer with a suitable software it is possible to organize the radioactivity measuring and sorting of sealed gamma-sources with activity in the microcuri region. Application of the computer permits to rise accuracy of the data on the radiation sources radioactivity, sorted according to the preset activity level groups and, in the casa of necessity, to perform the activity measurements with lower error. The method listed, gives the working-time economy of nearly 4 hours in measuring and sorting of some 500 sealed radiation sources [ru

Engineering a Cache-Oblivious Sorting Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Fagerberg, Rolf; Vinther, Kristoffer

2007-01-01

This paper is an algorithmic engineering study of cache-oblivious sorting. We investigate by empirical methods a number of implementation issues and parameter choices for the cache-oblivious sorting algorithm Lazy Funnelsort, and compare the final algorithm with Quicksort, the established standard...

Forest, Trees, Dynamics: Results from a novel Wisconsin Card Sorting Test variant Protocol for Studying Global-Local Attention and Complex Cognitive Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin eCowley

2016-02-01

Full Text Available BackgroundRecognition of objects and their context relies heavily on the integrated functioning of global and local visual processing. In a realistic setting such as work, this processing becomes a sustained activity, implying a consequent interaction with executive functions.MotivationThere have been many studies of either global-local attention or executive functions; however it is relatively novel to combine these processes to study a more ecological form of attention. We aim to explore the phenomenon of global-local processing during a task requiring sustained attention and working memory.MethodsWe develop and test a novel protocol for global-local dissociation, with task structure including phases of divided ('rule search' and selective ('rule found' attention, based on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task.We test it in a laboratory study with 25 participants, and report on behaviour measures (physiological data was also gathered, but not reported here. We develop novel stimuli with more naturalistic levels of information and noise, based primarily on face photographs, with consequently more ecological validity.ResultsWe report behavioural results indicating that sustained difficulty when participants test their hypotheses impacts matching-task performance, and diminishes the global precedence effect. Results also show a dissociation between subjectively experienced difficulty and objective dimension of performance, and establish the internal validity of the protocol.ContributionWe contribute an advance in the state of the art for testing global-local attention processes in concert with complex cognition. With three results we establish a connection between global-local dissociation and aspects of complex cognition. Our protocol also improves ecological validity and opens options for testing additional interactions in future work.

Past, present and future of spike sorting techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Rey, Hernan Gonzalo; Pedreira, Carlos; Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo

2015-10-01

Spike sorting is a crucial step to extract information from extracellular recordings. With new recording opportunities provided by the development of new electrodes that allow monitoring hundreds of neurons simultaneously, the scenario for the new generation of algorithms is both exciting and challenging. However, this will require a new approach to the problem and the development of a common reference framework to quickly assess the performance of new algorithms. In this work, we review the basic concepts of spike sorting, including the requirements for different applications, together with the problems faced by presently available algorithms. We conclude by proposing a roadmap stressing the crucial points to be addressed to support the neuroscientific research of the near future. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spike sorting using locality preserving projection with gap statistics and landmark-based spectral clustering.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Thanh; Khosravi, Abbas; Creighton, Douglas; Nahavandi, Saeid

2014-12-30

Understanding neural functions requires knowledge from analysing electrophysiological data. The process of assigning spikes of a multichannel signal into clusters, called spike sorting, is one of the important problems in such analysis. There have been various automated spike sorting techniques with both advantages and disadvantages regarding accuracy and computational costs. Therefore, developing spike sorting methods that are highly accurate and computationally inexpensive is always a challenge in the biomedical engineering practice. An automatic unsupervised spike sorting method is proposed in this paper. The method uses features extracted by the locality preserving projection (LPP) algorithm. These features afterwards serve as inputs for the landmark-based spectral clustering (LSC) method. Gap statistics (GS) is employed to evaluate the number of clusters before the LSC can be performed. The proposed LPP-LSC is highly accurate and computationally inexpensive spike sorting approach. LPP spike features are very discriminative; thereby boost the performance of clustering methods. Furthermore, the LSC method exhibits its efficiency when integrated with the cluster evaluator GS. The proposed method's accuracy is approximately 13% superior to that of the benchmark combination between wavelet transformation and superparamagnetic clustering (WT-SPC). Additionally, LPP-LSC computing time is six times less than that of the WT-SPC. LPP-LSC obviously demonstrates a win-win spike sorting solution meeting both accuracy and computational cost criteria. LPP and LSC are linear algorithms that help reduce computational burden and thus their combination can be applied into real-time spike analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unified selective sorting approach to analyse multi-electrode extracellular data

Science.gov (United States)

Veerabhadrappa, R.; Lim, C. P.; Nguyen, T. T.; Berk, M.; Tye, S. J.; Monaghan, P.; Nahavandi, S.; Bhatti, A.

2016-01-01

Extracellular data analysis has become a quintessential method for understanding the neurophysiological responses to stimuli. This demands stringent techniques owing to the complicated nature of the recording environment. In this paper, we highlight the challenges in extracellular multi-electrode recording and data analysis as well as the limitations pertaining to some of the currently employed methodologies. To address some of the challenges, we present a unified algorithm in the form of selective sorting. Selective sorting is modelled around hypothesized generative model, which addresses the natural phenomena of spikes triggered by an intricate neuronal population. The algorithm incorporates Cepstrum of Bispectrum, ad hoc clustering algorithms, wavelet transforms, least square and correlation concepts which strategically tailors a sequence to characterize and form distinctive clusters. Additionally, we demonstrate the influence of noise modelled wavelets to sort overlapping spikes. The algorithm is evaluated using both raw and synthesized data sets with different levels of complexity and the performances are tabulated for comparison using widely accepted qualitative and quantitative indicators. PMID:27339770

Raman tweezers in microfluidic systems for analysis and sorting of living cells

Science.gov (United States)

Pilát, Zdeněk.; Ježek, Jan; Kaňka, Jan; Zemánek, Pavel

2014-12-01

We have devised an analytical and sorting system combining optical trapping with Raman spectroscopy in microfluidic environment, dedicated to identification and sorting of biological objects, such as living cells of various unicellular organisms. Our main goal was to create a robust and universal platform for non-destructive and non-contact sorting of micro-objects based on their Raman spectral properties. This approach allowed us to collect spectra containing information about the chemical composition of the objects, such as the presence and composition of pigments, lipids, proteins, or nucleic acids, avoiding artificial chemical probes such as fluorescent markers. The non-destructive nature of this optical analysis and manipulation allowed us to separate individual living cells of our interest in a sterile environment and provided the possibility to cultivate the selected cells for further experiments. We used a mixture of polystyrene micro-particles and algal cells to test and demonstrate the function of our analytical and sorting system. The devised system could find its use in many medical, biotechnological, and biological applications.

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry peak sorting algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Cheolhwan; Huang, Xiaodong; Regnier, Fred E; Buck, Charles; Zhang, Xiang

2008-02-01

We report a novel peak sorting method for the two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC/TOF-MS) system. The objective of peak sorting is to recognize peaks from the same metabolite occurring in different samples from thousands of peaks detected in the analytical procedure. The developed algorithm is based on the fact that the chromatographic peaks for a given analyte have similar retention times in all of the chromatograms. Raw instrument data are first processed by ChromaTOF (Leco) software to provide the peak tables. Our algorithm achieves peak sorting by utilizing the first- and second-dimension retention times in the peak tables and the mass spectra generated during the process of electron impact ionization. The algorithm searches the peak tables for the peaks generated by the same type of metabolite using several search criteria. Our software also includes options to eliminate non-target peaks from the sorting results, e.g., peaks of contaminants. The developed software package has been tested using a mixture of standard metabolites and another mixture of standard metabolites spiked into human serum. Manual validation demonstrates high accuracy of peak sorting with this algorithm.

Below Regulatory Concern Owners Group: An evaluation of dry active waste sorting: Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casey, S.M.

1989-02-01

The objective of this research was to determine the accuracy of manual inspection of Dry Active Waste (DAW). Three studies were conducted at two nuclear power plants in which unmodified DAW waste streams of roughly 10,000 items each were inspected by technicians using pancake probes. Sorting performance was measured unobtrusively by intercepting the ''outflow'' from inspection stations. Verification of sorting accuracy was performed with a prototype, semi-automated sorting table employing a matrix of fixed plastic scintillation detectors. More than 30,000 items of trash were examined, classified, counted, and verified, and the composition of the ''inflow'' to the inspection stations was determined by reconstructing the ''outflow'' components, as determined during verification procedures. The results showed that between 1 and 19% of all items in each of the three DAW waste streams were contaminated at levels ≥100 ccpm. Sixty-two percent of the ''contaminated'' items in Study I, 87% of the contaminated items in Study II, and 97% of the contaminated items in Study III were detected. One-half to one percent of all items classified as <100 ccpm by technicians were actually ≥100 ccpm. False positive rates were very high in all three studies. The production rates and accuracy obtained on the semi-automated plastic scintillation sorting table used during the verification stages of this project greatly exceeded the rates for manual sorting. 9 figs., 13 tabs

Process performance and modelling of anaerobic digestion using source-sorted organic household waste

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khoshnevisan, Benyamin; Tsapekos, Panagiotis; Alvarado-Morales, Merlin

2018-01-01

Three distinctive start-up strategies of biogas reactors fed with source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste were investigated to reveal the most reliable procedure for rapid process stabilization. Moreover, the experimental results were compared with mathematical modeling outputs....... The combination of both experimental and modelling/simulation succeeded in optimizing the start-up process for anaerobic digestion of biopulp under mesophilic conditions....

On the Directly and Subdirectly Irreducible Many-Sorted Algebras

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Climent Vidal J.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available A theorem of single-sorted universal algebra asserts that every finite algebra can be represented as a product of a finite family of finite directly irreducible algebras. In this article, we show that the many-sorted counterpart of the above theorem is also true, but under the condition of requiring, in the definition of directly reducible many-sorted algebra, that the supports of the factors should be included in the support of the many-sorted algebra. Moreover, we show that the theorem of Birkhoff, according to which every single-sorted algebra is isomorphic to a subdirect product of subdirectly irreducible algebras, is also true in the field of many-sorted algebras.

Are Korean Industry-Sorted Portfolios Mean Reverting?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seongman Moon

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper tests the weak-form efficient market hypothesis for Korean industry-sorted portfolios. Based on a panel variance ratio approach, we find significant mean reversion of stock returns over long horizons in the pre Asian currency crisis period but little evidence in the post-crisis period. Our empirical findings are consistent with the fact that Korea accelerated its integration with international financial market by implementing extensive capital liberalization since the crisis.

How many neurons can we see with current spike sorting algorithms?

Science.gov (United States)

Pedreira, Carlos; Martinez, Juan; Ison, Matias J; Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo

2012-10-15

Recent studies highlighted the disagreement between the typical number of neurons observed with extracellular recordings and the ones to be expected based on anatomical and physiological considerations. This disagreement has been mainly attributed to the presence of sparsely firing neurons. However, it is also possible that this is due to limitations of the spike sorting algorithms used to process the data. To address this issue, we used realistic simulations of extracellular recordings and found a relatively poor spike sorting performance for simulations containing a large number of neurons. In fact, the number of correctly identified neurons for single-channel recordings showed an asymptotic behavior saturating at about 8-10 units, when up to 20 units were present in the data. This performance was significantly poorer for neurons with low firing rates, as these units were twice more likely to be missed than the ones with high firing rates in simulations containing many neurons. These results uncover one of the main reasons for the relatively low number of neurons found in extracellular recording and also stress the importance of further developments of spike sorting algorithms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Order-sorted Algebraic Specifications with Higher-order Functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth

1995-01-01

This paper gives a proposal for how order-sorted algebraic specification languages can be extended with higher-order functions. The approach taken is a generalisation to the order-sorted case of an approach given by Mller, Tarlecki and Wirsing for the many-sorted case. The main idea in the proposal...

Sorting and sustaining cooperation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vikander, Nick

2013-01-01

This paper looks at cooperation in teams where some people are selfish and others are conditional cooperators, and where lay-offs will occur at a fixed future date. I show that the best way to sustain cooperation prior to the lay-offs is often in a sorting equilibrium, where conditional cooperators...... can identify and then work with one another. Changes to parameters that would seem to make cooperation more attractive, such as an increase in the discount factor or the fraction of conditional cooperators, can reduce equilibrium cooperation if they decrease a selfish player's incentive to sort....

Development and test of selective sorting grids used in the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) fishery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Niels; Holst, René; Frandsen, Rikke

2017-01-01

Due to generally high discard rates in Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) fisheries, a discard ban coming up and to the cod recovery plan in several areas, selective sorting grids have been tested in many areas and are specified by legislation for use in the Kattegat and Skagerrak area bordering...... Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Grids are very selective, but they can lead to loss of landable Norway lobster and valuable fish species. To improve retention of these species, we developed three new grids using made by polyurethane to make them flexible: One grid had horizontal bars, one had vertical bars....... More flatfish passed the grid with horizontal bars compared to that with vertical bars, but the retention rate was still low. Use of the guiding funnel increased the contact with the grid considerably for both target and unwanted species. In all three grid designs, there were losses of Norway lobster...

A Simple Deep Learning Method for Neuronal Spike Sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai; Wu, Haifeng; Zeng, Yu

2017-10-01

Spike sorting is one of key technique to understand brain activity. With the development of modern electrophysiology technology, some recent multi-electrode technologies have been able to record the activity of thousands of neuronal spikes simultaneously. The spike sorting in this case will increase the computational complexity of conventional sorting algorithms. In this paper, we will focus spike sorting on how to reduce the complexity, and introduce a deep learning algorithm, principal component analysis network (PCANet) to spike sorting. The introduced method starts from a conventional model and establish a Toeplitz matrix. Through the column vectors in the matrix, we trains a PCANet, where some eigenvalue vectors of spikes could be extracted. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) is used to sort spikes. In experiments, we choose two groups of simulated data from public databases availably and compare this introduced method with conventional methods. The results indicate that the introduced method indeed has lower complexity with the same sorting errors as the conventional methods.

Denni Algorithm An Enhanced Of SMS (Scan, Move and Sort) Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Aprilsyah Lubis, Denni; Salim Sitompul, Opim; Marwan; Tulus; Andri Budiman, M.

2017-12-01

Sorting has been a profound area for the algorithmic researchers, and many resources are invested to suggest a more working sorting algorithm. For this purpose many existing sorting algorithms were observed in terms of the efficiency of the algorithmic complexity. Efficient sorting is important to optimize the use of other algorithms that require sorted lists to work correctly. Sorting has been considered as a fundamental problem in the study of algorithms that due to many reasons namely, the necessary to sort information is inherent in many applications, algorithms often use sorting as a key subroutine, in algorithm design there are many essential techniques represented in the body of sorting algorithms, and many engineering issues come to the fore when implementing sorting algorithms., Many algorithms are very well known for sorting the unordered lists, and one of the well-known algorithms that make the process of sorting to be more economical and efficient is SMS (Scan, Move and Sort) algorithm, an enhancement of Quicksort invented Rami Mansi in 2010. This paper presents a new sorting algorithm called Denni-algorithm. The Denni algorithm is considered as an enhancement on the SMS algorithm in average, and worst cases. The Denni algorithm is compared with the SMS algorithm and the results were promising.

Comparison of spike-sorting algorithms for future hardware implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Sarah; Judy, Jack W; Markovic, Dejan

2008-01-01

Applications such as brain-machine interfaces require hardware spike sorting in order to (1) obtain single-unit activity and (2) perform data reduction for wireless transmission of data. Such systems must be low-power, low-area, high-accuracy, automatic, and able to operate in real time. Several detection and feature extraction algorithms for spike sorting are described briefly and evaluated in terms of accuracy versus computational complexity. The nonlinear energy operator method is chosen as the optimal spike detection algorithm, being most robust over noise and relatively simple. The discrete derivatives method [1] is chosen as the optimal feature extraction method, maintaining high accuracy across SNRs with a complexity orders of magnitude less than that of traditional methods such as PCA.

The solution space of sorting by DCJ.

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Marília D V; Stoye, Jens

2010-09-01

In genome rearrangements, the double cut and join (DCJ) operation, introduced by Yancopoulos et al. in 2005, allows one to represent most rearrangement events that could happen in multichromosomal genomes, such as inversions, translocations, fusions, and fissions. No restriction on the genome structure considering linear and circular chromosomes is imposed. An advantage of this general model is that it leads to considerable algorithmic simplifications compared to other genome rearrangement models. Recently, several works concerning the DCJ operation have been published, and in particular, an algorithm was proposed to find an optimal DCJ sequence for sorting one genome into another one. Here we study the solution space of this problem and give an easy-to-compute formula that corresponds to the exact number of optimal DCJ sorting sequences for a particular subset of instances of the problem. We also give an algorithm to count the number of optimal sorting sequences for any instance of the problem. Another interesting result is the demonstration of the possibility of obtaining one optimal sorting sequence by properly replacing any pair of consecutive operations in another optimal sequence. As a consequence, any optimal sorting sequence can be obtained from one other by applying such replacements successively, but the problem of finding the shortest number of replacements between two sorting sequences is still open.

Card sorting, test d’oculométrie et test d’utilisabilité sur le site web du Service d’information scientifique du CERN

CERN Document Server

Marchand, Alizée; Schneider, René

Ce travail de Bachelor a pour objectif l’évaluation du site web du Service d’information scientifique du CERN. Cette évaluation est basée sur les méthodes utilisées en User Centered Design (UCD). Pour effectuer cette évaluation, nous avons sélectionné trois tests : un card sorting, un test d’oculométrie et un test d’utilisabilité. Selon la norme ISO 9241-11 :1998, l’utilisabilité se définit par « le degré selon lequel un produit peut être utilisé, par des utilisateurs identifiés, pour atteindre les buts définis avec efficacité, efficience et satisfaction, dans un contexte d’utilisation spécifié ». Les tests que nous avons réalisés nous ont permis d’identifier les problèmes d’utilisabilité du site du Service, en nous appuyant sur les caractéristiques d’utilisabilité définies dans cette norme. Pour ce faire, nous avons élaboré les tests en nous basant sur les pratiques utilisées par les spécialistes en UCD. Nous avons ensuite proposé à des employés du CERN, ...

A Linear Criterion to sort Color Components in Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonardo Barriga Rodriguez

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The color and its representation play a basic role in Image Analysis process. Several methods can be beneficial whenever they have a correct representation of wave-length variations used to represent scenes with a camera. A wide variety of spaces and color representations is founded in specialized literature. Each one is useful in concrete circumstances and others may offer redundant color information (for instance, all RGB components are high correlated. This work deals with the task of identifying and sorting which component from several color representations offers the majority of information about the scene. This approach is based on analyzing linear dependences among each color component, by the implementation of a new sorting algorithm based on entropy. The proposal is tested in several outdoor/indoor scenes with different light conditions. Repeatability and stability are tested in order to guarantee its use in several image analysis applications. Finally, the results of this work have been used to enhance an external algorithm to compensate the camera random vibrations.

Particle Transport and Size Sorting in Bubble Microstreaming Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Thameem, Raqeeb; Rallabandi, Bhargav; Wang, Cheng; Hilgenfeldt, Sascha

2014-11-01

Ultrasonic driving of sessile semicylindrical bubbles results in powerful steady streaming flows that are robust over a wide range of driving frequencies. In a microchannel, this flow field pattern can be fine-tuned to achieve size-sensitive sorting and trapping of particles at scales much smaller than the bubble itself; the sorting mechanism has been successfully described based on simple geometrical considerations. We investigate the sorting process in more detail, both experimentally (using new parameter variations that allow greater control over the sorting) and theoretically (incorporating the device geometry as well as the superimposed channel flow into an asymptotic theory). This results in optimized criteria for size sorting and a theoretical description that closely matches the particle behavior close to the bubble, the crucial region for size sorting.

Automatic Enhancement of the Reference Set for Multi-Criteria Sorting in The Frame of Theseus Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernandez Eduardo

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Some recent works have established the importance of handling abundant reference information in multi-criteria sorting problems. More valid information allows a better characterization of the agent’s assignment policy, which can lead to an improved decision support. However, sometimes information for enhancing the reference set may be not available, or may be too expensive. This paper explores an automatic mode of enhancing the reference set in the framework of the THESEUS multi-criteria sorting method. Some performance measures are defined in order to test results of the enhancement. Several theoretical arguments and practical experiments are provided here, supporting a basic advantage of the automatic enhancement: a reduction of the vagueness measure that improves the THESEUS accuracy, without additional efforts from the decision agent. The experiments suggest that the errors coming from inadequate automatic assignments can be kept at a manageable level.

Comparative environmental evaluation of construction waste management through different waste sorting systems in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Hossain, Md Uzzal; Wu, Zezhou; Poon, Chi Sun

2017-11-01

This study aimed to compare the environmental performance of building construction waste management (CWM) systems in Hong Kong. Life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was applied to evaluate the performance of CWM systems holistically based on primary data collected from two real building construction sites and secondary data obtained from the literature. Different waste recovery rates were applied based on compositions and material flow to assess the influence on the environmental performance of CWM systems. The system boundary includes all stages of the life cycle of building construction waste (including transportation, sorting, public fill or landfill disposal, recovery and reuse, and transformation and valorization into secondary products). A substitutional LCA approach was applied for capturing the environmental gains due to the utilizations of recovered materials. The results showed that the CWM system by using off-site sorting and direct landfilling resulted in significant environmental impacts. However, a considerable net environmental benefit was observed through an on-site sorting system. For example, about 18-30kg CO 2 eq. greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission were induced for managing 1 t of construction waste through off-site sorting and direct landfilling, whereas significant GHGs emission could be potentially avoided (considered as a credit -126 to -182kg CO 2 eq.) for an on-site sorting system due to the higher recycling potential. Although the environmental benefits mainly depend on the waste compositions and their sortability, the analysis conducted in this study can serve as guidelines to design an effective and resource-efficient building CWM system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Q sort theory and technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyatanga, L

1989-10-01

This paper is based on the author's experience of using the Q sort technique with BA Social Sciences (BASS) students, and the community psychiatric nursing (CPN, ENB No 811 course). The paper focuses on two main issues: 1. The theoretical assumptions underpinning the Q Sort technique. Carl Rogers' self theory and some of the values of humanistic psychology are summarised. 2. The actual technique procedure and meaning of results are highlighted. As the Q Sort technique is potentially useful in a variety of sittings some of which are listed in this paper, the emphasis has deliberately been placed in understanding the theoretical underpinning and the operationalisation (sensitive interpretation) of the theory to practice.

Event shape sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopecna, Renata; Tomasik, Boris

2016-01-01

We propose a novel method for sorting events of multiparticle production according to the azimuthal anisotropy of their momentum distribution. Although the method is quite general, we advocate its use in analysis of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions where a large number of hadrons is produced. The advantage of our method is that it can automatically sort out samples of events with histograms that indicate similar distributions of hadrons. It takes into account the whole measured histograms with all orders of anisotropy instead of a specific observable (e.g., v 2 , v 3 , q 2 ). It can be used for more exclusive experimental studies of flow anisotropies which are then more easily compared to theoretical calculations. It may also be useful in the construction of mixed-events background for correlation studies as it allows to select events with similar momentum distribution. (orig.)

ALGORITHM OF CARDIO COMPLEX DETECTION AND SORTING FOR PROCESSING THE DATA OF CONTINUOUS CARDIO SIGNAL MONITORING.

Science.gov (United States)

Krasichkov, A S; Grigoriev, E B; Nifontov, E M; Shapovalov, V V

The paper presents an algorithm of cardio complex classification as part of processing the data of continuous cardiac monitoring. R-wave detection concurrently with cardio complex sorting is discussed. The core of this approach is the use of prior information about. cardio complex forms, segmental structure, and degree of kindness. Results of the sorting algorithm testing are provided.

Development of the Biology Card Sorting Task to Measure Conceptual Expertise in Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Julia I.; Combs, Elijah D.; Nagami, Paul H.; Alto, Valerie M.; Goh, Henry G.; Gourdet, Muryam A. A.; Hough, Christina M.; Nickell, Ashley E.; Peer, Adrian G.; Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2013-01-01

There are widespread aspirations to focus undergraduate biology education on teaching students to think conceptually like biologists; however, there is a dearth of assessment tools designed to measure progress from novice to expert biological conceptual thinking. We present the development of a novel assessment tool, the Biology Card Sorting Task, designed to probe how individuals organize their conceptual knowledge of biology. While modeled on tasks from cognitive psychology, this task is unique in its design to test two hypothesized conceptual frameworks for the organization of biological knowledge: 1) a surface feature organization focused on organism type and 2) a deep feature organization focused on fundamental biological concepts. In this initial investigation of the Biology Card Sorting Task, each of six analytical measures showed statistically significant differences when used to compare the card sorting results of putative biological experts (biology faculty) and novices (non–biology major undergraduates). Consistently, biology faculty appeared to sort based on hypothesized deep features, while non–biology majors appeared to sort based on either surface features or nonhypothesized organizational frameworks. Results suggest that this novel task is robust in distinguishing populations of biology experts and biology novices and may be an adaptable tool for tracking emerging biology conceptual expertise. PMID:24297290

Brazilian preliminary norms and investigation of age and education effects on the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color and Word test and Digit Span test in adults

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmermann, Nicolle; Cardoso, Caroline de Oliveira; Trentini, Clarissa Marceli; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo; Fonseca, Rochele Paz

2015-01-01

Executive functions are involved in a series of human neurological and psychiatric disorders. For this reason, appropriate assessment tools with age and education adjusted norms for symptom diagnosis are necessary. Objective To present normative data for adults (19-75 year-olds; with five years of education or more) on the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST), Stroop color and word test and Digit Span test. Age and education effects were investigated. Methods Three samples were formed after inclusion criteria and data analysis: MWCST (n=124); Digit Span (n=123), and Stroop test (n=158). Groups were divided into young (19-39), middle-aged (40-59) and older (60-75) participants with five to eight years of education and nine years of education or more. Two-way ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses were used. Results Education effects were found in most variables of the three tasks. An age effect was only found on color naming and color-word naming speed from the Stroop test. No interactions were detected. Conclusion In countries with heterogeneous educational backgrounds, the use of stratified norms by education to assess at least some components of executive functions is essential for an ethical and accurate cognitive diagnosis. PMID:29213953

Development of sorting system control using LABVIEW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azraf Azman; Mohd Arif Hamzah; Noriah Mod Ali; John Konsoh; Mohd Idris Taib; Maslina Mohd Ibrahim; Nor Arymaswati Abdullah; Abu Bakar Mhd Ghazali

2005-01-01

The development of the Personnel Dosimeter Sorting System, proposed by the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) is to enhance the system or work flow in preparing the personnel dosimeter. The main objective of the system is to reduce stamping error, time and cost. The Personnel Dosimeter Sorting System is a semi-automatic system with an interfacing method using the Advantec 32 bit PCI interface card of 64 digital input and output. The system is integrated with the Labview version 7.1 programming language to control the sorting system and operation. (Author)

A new technology for automatic identification and sorting of plastics for recycling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, S R

2004-10-01

A new technology for automatic sorting of plastics, based upon optical identification of fluorescence signatures of dyes, incorporated in such materials in trace concentrations prior to product manufacturing, is described. Three commercial tracers were selected primarily on the basis of their good absorbency in the 310-370 nm spectral band and their identifiable narrow-band fluorescence signatures in the visible band of the spectrum when present in binary combinations. This absorption band was selected because of the availability of strong emission lines in this band from a commercial Hg-arc lamp and high fluorescence quantum yields of the tracers at this excitation wavelength band. The plastics chosen for tracing and identification are HDPE, LDPE, PP, EVA, PVC and PET and the tracers were compatible and chemically non-reactive with the host matrices and did not affect the transparency of the plastics. The design of a monochromatic and collimated excitation source, the sensor system are described and their performances in identifying and sorting plastics doped with tracers at a few parts per million concentration levels are evaluated. In an industrial sorting system, the sensor was able to sort 300 mm long plastic bottles at a conveyor belt speed of 3.5 m.sec(-1) with a sorting purity of -95%. The limitation was imposed due to mechanical singulation irregularities at high speed and the limited processing speed of the computer used.

Sorting and selection in posets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daskalakis, Constantinos; Karp, Richard M.; Mossel, Elchanan

2011-01-01

from two decades ago by Faigle and Turán. In particular, we present the first algorithm that sorts a width-$w$ poset of size $n$ with query complexity $O(n(w+\\log n))$ and prove that this query complexity is asymptotically optimal. We also describe a variant of Mergesort with query complexity $O......(wn\\log\\frac{n}{w})$ and total complexity $O(w^{2}n\\log\\frac{n}{w})$; an algorithm with the same query complexity was given by Faigle and Turán, but no efficient implementation of that algorithm is known. Both our sorting algorithms can be applied with negligible overhead to the more general problem of reconstructing transitive......Classical problems of sorting and searching assume an underlying linear ordering of the objects being compared. In this paper, we study these problems in the context of partially ordered sets, in which some pairs of objects are incomparable. This generalization is interesting from a combinatorial...

Effect of Hydrograph Characteristics on Vertical Grain Sorting in Gravel Bed Rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, M. A.; Parker, G.; Egozi, R.

2005-12-01

This study focuses on the formation of armour layers over a range of hydrologic conditions that includes two limiting cases; a relatively flat hydrograph that represents conditions produced by continuous snowmelt and a sharply peaked hydrograph that represents conditions associated with flash floods. To achieve our objective we analyzed field evidence, conducted flume experiments and performed numerical simulations. Sediment supply appears to be a first-order control on bed surface armouring, while the shape of the hydrograph plays a secondary role. All constant hydrograph experiments developed a well-armored structured surface while short asymmetrical hydrographs did not show substantial vertical sorting. All symmetrical hydrographs show some degree of sorting, and the sorting tended to become more pronounced with longer duration. Using the numerical framework of Parker, modified Powell, et al. and Wilcock and Crowe, we were able to achieve similar results.

System Architecture For High Speed Sorting Of Potatoes

Science.gov (United States)

Marchant, J. A.; Onyango, C. M.; Street, M. J.

1989-03-01

This paper illustrates an industrial application of vision processing in which potatoes are sorted according to their size and shape at speeds of up to 40 objects per second. The result is a multi-processing approach built around the VME bus. A hardware unit has been designed and constructed to encode the boundary of the potatoes, to reducing the amount of data to be processed. A master 68000 processor is used to control this unit and to handle data transfers along the bus. Boundary data is passed to one of three 68010 slave processors each responsible for a line of potatoes across a conveyor belt. The slave processors calculate attributes such as shape, size and estimated weight of each potato and the master processor uses this data to operate the sorting mechanism. The system has been interfaced with a commercial grading machine and performance trials are now in progress.

An extensible infrastructure for fully automated spike sorting during online experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Santhanam, Gopal; Sahani, Maneesh; Ryu, Stephen; Shenoy, Krishna

2004-01-01

When recording extracellular neural activity, it is often necessary to distinguish action potentials arising from distinct cells near the electrode tip, a process commonly referred to as "spike sorting." In a number of experiments, notably those that involve direct neuroprosthetic control of an effector, this cell-by-cell classification of the incoming signal must be achieved in real time. Several commercial offerings are available for this task, but all of these require some manual supervision per electrode, making each scheme cumbersome with large electrode counts. We present a new infrastructure that leverages existing unsupervised algorithms to sort and subsequently implement the resulting signal classification rules for each electrode using a commercially available Cerebus neural signal processor. We demonstrate an implementation of this infrastructure to classify signals from a cortical electrode array, using a probabilistic clustering algorithm (described elsewhere). The data were collected from a rhesus monkey performing a delayed center-out reach task. We used both sorted and unsorted (thresholded) action potentials from an array implanted in pre-motor cortex to "predict" the reach target, a common decoding operation in neuroprosthetic research. The use of sorted spikes led to an improvement in decoding accuracy of between 3.6 and 6.4%.

Impact of respiratory-correlated CT sorting algorithms on the choice of margin definition for free-breathing lung radiotherapy treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Thengumpallil, Sheeba; Germond, Jean-François; Bourhis, Jean; Bochud, François; Moeckli, Raphaël

2016-06-01

To investigate the impact of Toshiba phase- and amplitude-sorting algorithms on the margin strategies for free-breathing lung radiotherapy treatments in the presence of breathing variations. 4D CT of a sphere inside a dynamic thorax phantom was acquired. The 4D CT was reconstructed according to the phase- and amplitude-sorting algorithms. The phantom was moved by reproducing amplitude, frequency, and a mix of amplitude and frequency variations. Artefact analysis was performed for Mid-Ventilation and ITV-based strategies on the images reconstructed by phase- and amplitude-sorting algorithms. The target volume deviation was assessed by comparing the target volume acquired during irregular motion to the volume acquired during regular motion. The amplitude-sorting algorithm shows reduced artefacts for only amplitude variations while the phase-sorting algorithm for only frequency variations. For amplitude and frequency variations, both algorithms perform similarly. Most of the artefacts are blurring and incomplete structures. We found larger artefacts and volume differences for the Mid-Ventilation with respect to the ITV strategy, resulting in a higher relative difference of the surface distortion value which ranges between maximum 14.6% and minimum 4.1%. The amplitude- is superior to the phase-sorting algorithm in the reduction of motion artefacts for amplitude variations while phase-sorting for frequency variations. A proper choice of 4D CT sorting algorithm is important in order to reduce motion artefacts, especially if Mid-Ventilation strategy is used. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cloning of Plasmodium falciparum by single-cell sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Jun; Li, Xiaolian; Cui, Liwang

2010-10-01

Malaria parasite cloning is traditionally carried out mainly by using the limiting dilution method, which is laborious, imprecise, and unable to distinguish multiply-infected RBCs. In this study, we used a parasite engineered to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) to evaluate a single-cell sorting method for rapidly cloning Plasmodium falciparum. By dividing a two-dimensional scattergram from a cell sorter into 17 gates, we determined the parameters for isolating singly-infected erythrocytes and sorted them into individual cultures. Pre-gating of the engineered parasites for GFP allowed the isolation of almost 100% GFP-positive clones. Compared with the limiting dilution method, the number of parasite clones obtained by single-cell sorting was much higher. Molecular analyses showed that parasite isolates obtained by single-cell sorting were highly homogenous. This highly efficient single-cell sorting method should prove very useful for cloning both P. falciparum laboratory populations from genetic manipulation experiments and clinical samples. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloning of Plasmodium falciparum by single-cell sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Jun; Li, Xiaolian; Cui, Liwang

2010-01-01

Malaria parasite cloning is traditionally carried out mainly by using the limiting dilution method, which is laborious, imprecise, and unable to distinguish multiply-infected RBCs. In this study, we used a parasite engineered to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) to evaluate a single-cell sorting method for rapidly cloning Plasmodium falciparum. By dividing a two dimensional scattergram from a cell sorter into 17 gates, we determined the parameters for isolating singly-infected erythrocytes and sorted them into individual cultures. Pre-gating of the engineered parasites for GFP allowed the isolation of almost 100% GFP-positive clones. Compared with the limiting dilution method, the number of parasite clones obtained by single-cell sorting was much higher. Molecular analyses showed that parasite isolates obtained by single-cell sorting were highly homogenous. This highly efficient single-cell sorting method should prove very useful for cloning both P. falciparum laboratory populations from genetic manipulation experiments and clinical samples. PMID:20435038

Passive sorting of capsules by deformability

Science.gov (United States)

Haener, Edgar; Juel, Anne

We study passive sorting according to deformability of liquid-filled ovalbumin-alginate capsules. We present results for two sorting geometries: a straight channel with a half-cylindrical obstruction and a pinched flow fractioning device (PFF) adapted for use with capsules. In the half-cylinder device, the capsules deform as they encounter the obstruction, and travel around the half-cylinder. The distance from the capsule's centre of mass to the surface of the half-cylinder depends on deformability, and separation between capsules of different deformability is amplified by diverging streamlines in the channel expansion downstream of the obstruction. We show experimentally that capsules can be sorted according to deformability with their downstream position depending on capillary number only, and we establish the sensitivity of the device to experimental variability. In the PFF device, particles are compressed against a wall using a strong pinching flow. We show that capsule deformation increases with the intensity of the pinching flow, but that the downstream capsule position is not set by deformation in the device. However, when using the PFF device like a T-Junction, we achieve improved sorting resolution compared to the half-cylinder device.

On Sorting Genomes with DCJ and Indels

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Marília D. V.

A previous work of Braga, Willing and Stoye compared two genomes with unequal content, but without duplications, and presented a new linear time algorithm to compute the genomic distance, considering double cut and join (DCJ) operations, insertions and deletions. Here we derive from this approach an algorithm to sort one genome into another one also using DCJ, insertions and deletions. The optimal sorting scenarios can have different compositions and we compare two types of sorting scenarios: one that maximizes and one that minimizes the number of DCJ operations with respect to the number of insertions and deletions.

A visual ergonomics intervention in mail sorting facilities: effects on eyes, muscles and productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemphälä, Hillevi; Eklund, Jörgen

2012-01-01

Visual requirements are high when sorting mail. The purpose of this visual ergonomics intervention study was to evaluate the visual environment in mail sorting facilities and to explore opportunities for improving the work situation by reducing visual strain, improving the visual work environment and reducing mail sorting time. Twenty-seven postmen/women participated in a pre-intervention study, which included questionnaires on their experiences of light, visual ergonomics, health, and musculoskeletal symptoms. Measurements of lighting conditions and productivity were also performed along with eye examinations of the postmen/women. The results from the pre-intervention study showed that the postmen/women who suffered from eyestrain had a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and sorted slower, than those without eyestrain. Illuminance and illuminance uniformity improved as a result of the intervention. The two post-intervention follow-ups showed a higher prevalence of MSD among the postmen/women with eyestrain than among those without. The previous differences in sorting time for employees with and without eyestrain disappeared. After the intervention, the postmen/women felt better in general, experienced less work induced stress, and considered that the total general lighting had improved. The most pronounced decreases in eyestrain, MSD, and mail sorting time were seen among the younger participants of the group. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Algorithm 426 : Merge sort algorithm [M1

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bron, C.

1972-01-01

Sorting by means of a two-way merge has a reputation of requiring a clerically complicated and cumbersome program. This ALGOL 60 procedure demonstrates that, using recursion, an elegant and efficient algorithm can be designed, the correctness of which is easily proved [2]. Sorting n objects gives

Magnethophoretic sorting of fluid catalytic cracking particles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Solsona, Miguel; Nieuwelink, A. E.; Odijk, Mathieu; Meirer, Florian; Abelmann, Leon; Olthuis, Wouter; Weckhuysen, Bert M.; van den Berg, Albert; Lee, Abraham; DeVoe, Don

2017-01-01

We demonstrate an on-chip particle activity sorter, focused on iron concentration and based on magnetophoresis. This device was used for fast sorting of stepwise homogenously distributed [Fe]s. The preliminary results are very encouraging. We show that we can sort particles on magnetic moment, with

Sorting Tubules Regulate Blood-Brain Barrier Transcytosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Villaseñor

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Transcytosis across the blood-brain barrier (BBB regulates key processes of the brain, but the intracellular sorting mechanisms that determine successful receptor-mediated transcytosis in brain endothelial cells (BECs remain unidentified. Here, we used Transferrin receptor-based Brain Shuttle constructs to investigate intracellular transport in BECs, and we uncovered a pathway for the regulation of receptor-mediated transcytosis. By combining live-cell imaging and mathematical modeling in vitro with super-resolution microscopy of the BBB, we show that intracellular tubules promote transcytosis across the BBB. A monovalent construct (sFab sorted for transcytosis was localized to intracellular tubules, whereas a bivalent construct (dFab sorted for degradation formed clusters with impaired transport along tubules. Manipulating tubule biogenesis by overexpressing the small GTPase Rab17 increased dFab transport into tubules and induced its transcytosis in BECs. We propose that sorting tubules regulate transcytosis in BECs and may be a general mechanism for receptor-mediated transport across the BBB.

A many-sorted calculus based on resolution and paramodulation

CERN Document Server

Walther, Christoph

1987-01-01

A Many-Sorted Calculus Based on Resolution and Paramodulation emphasizes the utilization of advantages and concepts of many-sorted logic for resolution and paramodulation based automated theorem proving.This book considers some first-order calculus that defines how theorems from given hypotheses by pure syntactic reasoning are obtained, shifting all the semantic and implicit argumentation to the syntactic and explicit level of formal first-order reasoning. This text discusses the efficiency of many-sorted reasoning, formal preliminaries for the RP- and ?RP-calculus, and many-sorted term rewrit

Differential evolution enhanced with multiobjective sorting-based mutation operators.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jiahai; Liao, Jianjun; Zhou, Ying; Cai, Yiqiao

2014-12-01

Differential evolution (DE) is a simple and powerful population-based evolutionary algorithm. The salient feature of DE lies in its mutation mechanism. Generally, the parents in the mutation operator of DE are randomly selected from the population. Hence, all vectors are equally likely to be selected as parents without selective pressure at all. Additionally, the diversity information is always ignored. In order to fully exploit the fitness and diversity information of the population, this paper presents a DE framework with multiobjective sorting-based mutation operator. In the proposed mutation operator, individuals in the current population are firstly sorted according to their fitness and diversity contribution by nondominated sorting. Then parents in the mutation operators are proportionally selected according to their rankings based on fitness and diversity, thus, the promising individuals with better fitness and diversity have more opportunity to be selected as parents. Since fitness and diversity information is simultaneously considered for parent selection, a good balance between exploration and exploitation can be achieved. The proposed operator is applied to original DE algorithms, as well as several advanced DE variants. Experimental results on 48 benchmark functions and 12 real-world application problems show that the proposed operator is an effective approach to enhance the performance of most DE algorithms studied.

Sorting mutual funds with respect to process-oriented social responsibility: A FLOWSORT application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tim Verheyden

2014-08-01

Full Text Available We establish a robust FLOWSORT-based tool to sort mutual funds with respect to process-oriented social responsibility and recommend the use of limiting profiles with open classes. The tool provides an alternative for the limited dichotomous classification of funds, i.e. socially responsible investing (SRI versus conventional funds. By allowing for more heterogeneity in social responsibility the sorting tool is promising for scholars to improve fund performance measurements, and useful for governments to better regulate the supply of SRI products.

Genetic surfing, not allopatric divergence, explains spatial sorting of mitochondrial haplotypes in venomous coralsnakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Streicher, Jeffrey W; McEntee, Jay P; Drzich, Laura C; Card, Daren C; Schield, Drew R; Smart, Utpal; Parkinson, Christopher L; Jezkova, Tereza; Smith, Eric N; Castoe, Todd A

2016-07-01

Strong spatial sorting of genetic variation in contiguous populations is often explained by local adaptation or secondary contact following allopatric divergence. A third explanation, spatial sorting by stochastic effects of range expansion, has been considered less often though theoretical models suggest it should be widespread, if ephemeral. In a study designed to delimit species within a clade of venomous coralsnakes, we identified an unusual pattern within the Texas coral snake (Micrurus tener): strong spatial sorting of divergent mitochondrial (mtDNA) lineages over a portion of its range, but weak sorting of these lineages elsewhere. We tested three alternative hypotheses to explain this pattern-local adaptation, secondary contact following allopatric divergence, and range expansion. Collectively, near panmixia of nuclear DNA, the signal of range expansion associated sampling drift, expansion origins in the Gulf Coast of Mexico, and species distribution modeling suggest that the spatial sorting of divergent mtDNA lineages within M. tener has resulted from genetic surfing of standing mtDNA variation-not local adaptation or allopatric divergence. Our findings highlight the potential for the stochastic effects of recent range expansion to mislead estimations of population divergence made from mtDNA, which may be exacerbated in systems with low vagility, ancestral mtDNA polymorphism, and male-biased dispersal. © 2016 The Author(s).

Heuristic framework for parallel sorting computations | Nwanze ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Parallel sorting techniques have become of practical interest with the advent of new multiprocessor architectures. The decreasing cost of these processors will probably in the future, make the solutions that are derived thereof to be more appealing. Efficient algorithms for sorting scheme that are encountered in a number of ...

Card sorting to evaluate the robustness of the information architecture of a protocol website.

Science.gov (United States)

Wentzel, J; Müller, F; Beerlage-de Jong, N; van Gemert-Pijnen, J

2016-02-01

A website on Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, MRSA-net, was developed for Health Care Workers (HCWs) and the general public, in German and in Dutch. The website's content was based on existing protocols and its structure was based on a card sort study. A Human Centered Design approach was applied to ensure a match between user and technology. In the current study we assess whether the website's structure still matches user needs, again via a card sort study. An open card sort study was conducted. Randomly drawn samples of 100 on-site search queries as they were entered on the MRSA-net website (during one year of use) were used as card input. In individual sessions, the cards were sorted by each participant (18 German and 10 Dutch HCWs, and 10 German and 10 Dutch members of the general public) into piles that were meaningful to them. Each participant provided a label for every pile of cards they created. Cluster analysis was performed on the resulting sorts, creating an overview of clusters of items placed together in one pile most frequently. In addition, pile labels were qualitatively analyzed to identify the participants' mental models. Cluster analysis confirmed existing categories and revealed new themes emerging from the search query samples, such as financial issues and consequences for the patient. Even though MRSA-net addresses these topics, they are not prominently covered in the menu structure. The label analysis shows that 7 of a total of 44 MRSA-net categories were not reproduced by the participants. Additional themes such as information on other pathogens and categories such as legal issues emerged. This study shows that the card sort performed to create MRSA-net resulted in overall long-lasting structure and categories. New categories were identified, indicating that additional information needs emerged. Therefore, evaluating website structure should be a recurrent activity. Card sorting with ecological data as input for the cards is

Mice with Sort1 deficiency display normal cognition but elevated anxiety-like behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruan, Chun-Sheng; Yang, Chun-Rui; Li, Jia-Yi; Luo, Hai-Yun; Bobrovskaya, Larisa; Zhou, Xin-Fu

2016-07-01

Exposure to stressful life events plays a central role in the development of mood disorders in vulnerable individuals. However, the mechanisms that link mood disorders to stress are poorly understood. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has long been implicated in positive regulation of depression and anxiety, while its precursor (proBDNF) recently showed an opposing effect on such mental illnesses. P75(NTR) and sortilin are co-receptors of proBDNF, however, the role of these receptors in mood regulation is not established. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of sortilin in regulating mood-related behaviors and its role in the proBDNF-mediated mood abnormality in mice. We found that sortilin was up-regulated in neocortex (by 78.3%) and hippocampus (by 111%) of chronically stressed mice as assessed by western blot analysis. These changes were associated with decreased mobility in the open field test and increased depression-like behavior in the forced swimming test. We also found that sortilin deficiency in mice resulted in hyperlocomotion in the open field test and increased anxiety-like behavior in both the open field and elevated plus maze tests. No depression-like behavior in the forced swimming test and no deficit in spatial cognition in the Morris water maze test were found in the Sort1-deficient mice. Moreover, the intracellular and extracellular levels of mature BDNF and proBDNF were not changed when sortilin was absent in vivo and in vitro. Finally, we found that both WT and Sort1-deficient mice injected with proBDNF in lateral ventricle displayed increased depression-like behavior in the forced swimming test but not anxiety-like behaviors in the open field and elevated plus maze tests. The present study suggests that sortilin functions as a negative regulator of mood performance and can be a therapeutic target for the treatment of mental illness. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fruit Sorting Using Fuzzy Logic Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Elamvazuthi, Irraivan; Sinnadurai, Rajendran; Aftab Ahmed Khan, Mohamed Khan; Vasant, Pandian

2009-08-01

Fruit and vegetables market is getting highly selective, requiring their suppliers to distribute the goods according to very strict standards of quality and presentation. In the last years, a number of fruit sorting and grading systems have appeared to fulfill the needs of the fruit processing industry. However, most of them are overly complex and too costly for the small and medium scale industry (SMIs) in Malaysia. In order to address these shortcomings, a prototype machine was developed by integrating the fruit sorting, labeling and packing processes. To realise the prototype, many design issues were dealt with. Special attention is paid to the electronic weighing sub-system for measuring weight, and the opto-electronic sub-system for determining the height and width of the fruits. Specifically, this paper discusses the application of fuzzy logic techniques in the sorting process.

Recent progress in multi-electrode spike sorting methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Lefebvre, Baptiste; Yger, Pierre; Marre, Olivier

2016-11-01

In recent years, arrays of extracellular electrodes have been developed and manufactured to record simultaneously from hundreds of electrodes packed with a high density. These recordings should allow neuroscientists to reconstruct the individual activity of the neurons spiking in the vicinity of these electrodes, with the help of signal processing algorithms. Algorithms need to solve a source separation problem, also known as spike sorting. However, these new devices challenge the classical way to do spike sorting. Here we review different methods that have been developed to sort spikes from these large-scale recordings. We describe the common properties of these algorithms, as well as their main differences. Finally, we outline the issues that remain to be solved by future spike sorting algorithms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic bubble sorting for ultrasound contrast agent enrichment.

Science.gov (United States)

Segers, Tim; Versluis, Michel

2014-05-21

An ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) suspension contains encapsulated microbubbles with a wide size distribution, with radii ranging from 1 to 10 μm. Medical transducers typically operate at a single frequency, therefore only a small selection of bubbles will resonate to the driving ultrasound pulse. Thus, the sensitivity can be improved by narrowing down the size distribution. Here, we present a simple lab-on-a-chip method to sort the population of microbubbles on-chip using a traveling ultrasound wave. First, we explore the physical parameter space of acoustic bubble sorting using well-defined bubble sizes formed in a flow-focusing device, then we demonstrate successful acoustic sorting of a commercial UCA. This novel sorting strategy may lead to an overall improvement of the sensitivity of contrast ultrasound by more than 10 dB.

Fast sorting measurement technique to determine decontamination priority

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Distenfeld, C.H.; Brosey, B.; Igarashi, H.

1986-01-01

The method used to select decontamination priorities for the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor building (RB) is systematic, but costs in personnel exposure and time must be borne. One way of minimizing exposure is to define and treat the one or two surface sources that are important contributors to the collective dose of the recovery personnel. Surface characteristics can then be determined and decontamination techniques developed to match the removal requirements. At TMI-2, a fast sorting technique was developed and used to prioritize surfaces for exposure reduction. A second quick sort can then be used to determine the next generation of surface characterization, decontamination method selection, and performance. The quick-sort method that was developed is based on the Eberline HP 220A probes directional survey system. The angular response of the HP 220A probes approaches 2 pi steradians and allows toward-away type measurements. Sources distributed over 4 pi steradians are hard to define with this system. Angular differentiation was improved to about pi/2 steradians by redesigning the probe shield. The change allows unambiguous six-direction measurements, such as up, down, front, rear, right, and left with practically no angular overlap or exclusion. A simple, light-weight stand was used to establish an angular reference for the rectangular packaged probe. The six surface planes of the rectangle work with the angular reference to establish the six viewing angles

Study on Impact Acoustic-Visual Sensor-Based Sorting of ELV Plastic Materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jiu; Tian, Chuyuan; Ren, Jingwei; Bian, Zhengfu

2017-06-08

This paper concentrates on a study of a novel multi-sensor aided method by using acoustic and visual sensors for detection, recognition and separation of End-of Life vehicles' (ELVs) plastic materials, in order to optimize the recycling rate of automotive shredder residues (ASRs). Sensor-based sorting technologies have been utilized for material recycling for the last two decades. One of the problems still remaining results from black and dark dyed plastics which are very difficult to recognize using visual sensors. In this paper a new multi-sensor technology for black plastic recognition and sorting by using impact resonant acoustic emissions (AEs) and laser triangulation scanning was introduced. A pilot sorting system which consists of a 3-dimensional visual sensor and an acoustic sensor was also established; two kinds commonly used vehicle plastics, polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and two kinds of modified vehicle plastics, polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer (PP-EPDM) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene/polycarbonate (ABS-PC) were tested. In this study the geometrical features of tested plastic scraps were measured by the visual sensor, and their corresponding impact acoustic emission (AE) signals were acquired by the acoustic sensor. The signal processing and feature extraction of visual data as well as acoustic signals were realized by virtual instruments. Impact acoustic features were recognized by using FFT based power spectral density analysis. The results shows that the characteristics of the tested PP and ABS plastics were totally different, but similar to their respective modified materials. The probability of scrap material recognition rate, i.e., the theoretical sorting efficiency between PP and PP-EPDM, could reach about 50%, and between ABS and ABS-PC it could reach about 75% with diameters ranging from 14 mm to 23 mm, and with exclusion of abnormal impacts, the actual separation rates were 39.2% for PP, 41

Use of computerized tests to evaluate psychomotor performance in children with specific learning disabilities in comparison to normal children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santosh Taur

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background & objectives: Children with specific learning disabilities (SpLD have an unexplained difficulty in acquiring basic academic skills resulting in a significant discrepancy between their academic potential and achievements. This study was undertaken to compare the performance on a battery of six psychomotor tests of children with SpLD and those without any learning disabilities (controls using computerized tests. Methods: In this study, 25 children with SpLD and 25 controls (matched for age, socio-economic status and medium of instruction were given three training sessions over one week. Then children were asked to perform on the six computerized psychomotor tests. Results were compared between the two groups. Results: Children with SpLD fared significantly worse on finger tapping test, choice reaction test, digit picture substitution test and card sorting test compared to the controls ( p <0.05. Interpretation & conclusions: Children with SpLD have impairment of psychomotor skills like attention, sensory-motor coordination and executive functioning. Further research is needed to evaluate if the remedial education plan results in improvement in psychomotor performance of children with SpLD on these selected tests.

Stochastic Order Redshift Technique (SORT): a simple, efficient and robust method to improve cosmological redshift measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Tejos, Nicolas; Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo; Primack, Joel R.

2018-01-01

We present a simple, efficient and robust approach to improve cosmological redshift measurements. The method is based on the presence of a reference sample for which a precise redshift number distribution (dN/dz) can be obtained for different pencil-beam-like sub-volumes within the original survey. For each sub-volume we then impose that: (i) the redshift number distribution of the uncertain redshift measurements matches the reference dN/dz corrected by their selection functions and (ii) the rank order in redshift of the original ensemble of uncertain measurements is preserved. The latter step is motivated by the fact that random variables drawn from Gaussian probability density functions (PDFs) of different means and arbitrarily large standard deviations satisfy stochastic ordering. We then repeat this simple algorithm for multiple arbitrary pencil-beam-like overlapping sub-volumes; in this manner, each uncertain measurement has multiple (non-independent) 'recovered' redshifts which can be used to estimate a new redshift PDF. We refer to this method as the Stochastic Order Redshift Technique (SORT). We have used a state-of-the-art N-body simulation to test the performance of SORT under simple assumptions and found that it can improve the quality of cosmological redshifts in a robust and efficient manner. Particularly, SORT redshifts (zsort) are able to recover the distinctive features of the so-called 'cosmic web' and can provide unbiased measurement of the two-point correlation function on scales ≳4 h-1Mpc. Given its simplicity, we envision that a method like SORT can be incorporated into more sophisticated algorithms aimed to exploit the full potential of large extragalactic photometric surveys.

Feature extraction using extrema sampling of discrete derivatives for spike sorting in implantable upper-limb neural prostheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Zamani, Majid; Demosthenous, Andreas

2014-07-01

Next generation neural interfaces for upper-limb (and other) prostheses aim to develop implantable interfaces for one or more nerves, each interface having many neural signal channels that work reliably in the stump without harming the nerves. To achieve real-time multi-channel processing it is important to integrate spike sorting on-chip to overcome limitations in transmission bandwidth. This requires computationally efficient algorithms for feature extraction and clustering suitable for low-power hardware implementation. This paper describes a new feature extraction method for real-time spike sorting based on extrema analysis (namely positive peaks and negative peaks) of spike shapes and their discrete derivatives at different frequency bands. Employing simulation across different datasets, the accuracy and computational complexity of the proposed method are assessed and compared with other methods. The average classification accuracy of the proposed method in conjunction with online sorting (O-Sort) is 91.6%, outperforming all the other methods tested with the O-Sort clustering algorithm. The proposed method offers a better tradeoff between classification error and computational complexity, making it a particularly strong choice for on-chip spike sorting.

Automorphism group of the modified bubble-sort graph

OpenAIRE

Ganesan, Ashwin

2014-01-01

The modified bubble-sort graph of dimension $n$ is the Cayley graph of $S_n$ generated by $n$ cyclically adjacent transpositions. In the present paper, it is shown that the automorphism group of the modified bubble sort graph of dimension $n$ is $S_n \\times D_{2n}$, for all $n \\ge 5$. Thus, a complete structural description of the automorphism group of the modified bubble-sort graph is obtained. A similar direct product decomposition is seen to hold for arbitrary normal Cayley graphs generate...

Understanding protocol performance: impact of test performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Robert G

2013-01-01

This is the second of two articles that examine the factors that determine protocol performance. The objective of these articles is to provide a general understanding of protocol performance that can be used to estimate performance, establish limits on performance, decide if a protocol is justified, and ultimately select a protocol. The first article was concerned with protocol criterion and test correlation. It demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of different criterion when all tests had the same performance. It also examined the impact of increasing test correlation on protocol performance and the characteristics of the different criteria. To examine the impact on protocol performance when individual tests in a protocol have different performance. This is evaluated for different criteria and test correlations. The results of the two articles are combined and summarized. A mathematical model is used to calculate protocol performance for different protocol criteria and test correlations when there are small to large variations in the performance of individual tests in the protocol. The performance of the individual tests that make up a protocol has a significant impact on the performance of the protocol. As expected, the better the performance of the individual tests, the better the performance of the protocol. Many of the characteristics of the different criteria are relatively independent of the variation in the performance of the individual tests. However, increasing test variation degrades some criteria advantages and causes a new disadvantage to appear. This negative impact increases as test variation increases and as more tests are added to the protocol. Best protocol performance is obtained when individual tests are uncorrelated and have the same performance. In general, the greater the variation in the performance of tests in the protocol, the more detrimental this variation is to protocol performance. Since this negative impact is increased as

Sorting signed permutations by short operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvão, Gustavo Rodrigues; Lee, Orlando; Dias, Zanoni

2015-01-01

During evolution, global mutations may alter the order and the orientation of the genes in a genome. Such mutations are referred to as rearrangement events, or simply operations. In unichromosomal genomes, the most common operations are reversals, which are responsible for reversing the order and orientation of a sequence of genes, and transpositions, which are responsible for switching the location of two contiguous portions of a genome. The problem of computing the minimum sequence of operations that transforms one genome into another - which is equivalent to the problem of sorting a permutation into the identity permutation - is a well-studied problem that finds application in comparative genomics. There are a number of works concerning this problem in the literature, but they generally do not take into account the length of the operations (i.e. the number of genes affected by the operations). Since it has been observed that short operations are prevalent in the evolution of some species, algorithms that efficiently solve this problem in the special case of short operations are of interest. In this paper, we investigate the problem of sorting a signed permutation by short operations. More precisely, we study four flavors of this problem: (i) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals of length at most 2; (ii) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals of length at most 3; (iii) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions of length at most 2; and (iv) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions of length at most 3. We present polynomial-time solutions for problems (i) and (iii), a 5-approximation for problem (ii), and a 3-approximation for problem (iv). Moreover, we show that the expected approximation ratio of the 5-approximation algorithm is not greater than 3 for random signed permutations with more than 12 elements. Finally, we present experimental results that show

Sorting Out Seasonal Allergies

Science.gov (United States)

... Close ‹ Back to Healthy Living Sorting Out Seasonal Allergies Sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion. Symptoms of the ... How do I know if I have seasonal allergies? According to Dr. Georgeson, the best way to ...

NeatSort - A practical adaptive algorithm

OpenAIRE

La Rocca, Marcello; Cantone, Domenico

2014-01-01

We present a new adaptive sorting algorithm which is optimal for most disorder metrics and, more important, has a simple and quick implementation. On input $X$, our algorithm has a theoretical $\\Omega (|X|)$ lower bound and a $\\mathcal{O}(|X|\\log|X|)$ upper bound, exhibiting amazing adaptive properties which makes it run closer to its lower bound as disorder (computed on different metrics) diminishes. From a practical point of view, \\textit{NeatSort} has proven itself competitive with (and of...

Targeted sorting of single virus-infected cells of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez Martínez, Joaquín; Poulton, Nicole J; Stepanauskas, Ramunas; Sieracki, Michael E; Wilson, William H

2011-01-01

Discriminating infected from healthy cells is the first step to understanding the mechanisms and ecological implications of viral infection. We have developed a method for detecting, sorting, and performing molecular analysis of individual, infected cells of the important microalga Emiliania huxleyi, based on known physiological responses to viral infection. Of three fluorescent dyes tested, FM 1-43 (for detecting membrane blebbing) gave the most unequivocal and earliest separation of cells. Furthermore, we were able to amplify the genomes of single infected cells using Multiple Displacement Amplification. This novel method to reliably discriminate infected from healthy cells in cultures will allow researchers to answer numerous questions regarding the mechanisms and implications of viral infection of E. huxleyi. The method may be transferable to other virus-host systems.

A fully automated non-external marker 4D-CT sorting algorithm using a serial cine scanning protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Carnes, Greg; Gaede, Stewart; Yu, Edward; Van Dyk, Jake; Battista, Jerry; Lee, Ting-Yim

2009-04-07

Current 4D-CT methods require external marker data to retrospectively sort image data and generate CT volumes. In this work we develop an automated 4D-CT sorting algorithm that performs without the aid of data collected from an external respiratory surrogate. The sorting algorithm requires an overlapping cine scan protocol. The overlapping protocol provides a spatial link between couch positions. Beginning with a starting scan position, images from the adjacent scan position (which spatial match the starting scan position) are selected by maximizing the normalized cross correlation (NCC) of the images at the overlapping slice position. The process was continued by 'daisy chaining' all couch positions using the selected images until an entire 3D volume was produced. The algorithm produced 16 phase volumes to complete a 4D-CT dataset. Additional 4D-CT datasets were also produced using external marker amplitude and phase angle sorting methods. The image quality of the volumes produced by the different methods was quantified by calculating the mean difference of the sorted overlapping slices from adjacent couch positions. The NCC sorted images showed a significant decrease in the mean difference (p < 0.01) for the five patients.

Transcriptional profiling of cells sorted by RNA abundance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klemm, Sandy; Semrau, Stefan; Wiebrands, Kay; Mooijman, Dylan; Faddah, Dina A; Jaenisch, Rudolf; van Oudenaarden, Alexander

We have developed a quantitative technique for sorting cells on the basis of endogenous RNA abundance, with a molecular resolution of 10-20 transcripts. We demonstrate efficient and unbiased RNA extraction from transcriptionally sorted cells and report a high-fidelity transcriptome measurement of

Measurement, sorting and tuning of LCLS undulator magnets

CERN Document Server

Vasserman, I B; Dejus, Roger J; Moog, E; Trakhtenberg, E; Vinokurov, N A

2002-01-01

Currently, a Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) prototype undulator is under construction. The prototype is a 3.4-m-long hybrid-type undulator with fixed gap of 6 mm. The period length is 30 mm and the number of poles is 226. For this undulator, 450 NdFeB magnet blocks are used. This project does not have demanding requirements for multipole component errors, but the field strength at x=0 should be as precise as possible to provide proper particle steering and phase errors. The first set of magnetic blocks has been measured. The strength and direction of magnetization of the magnet blocks are measured using a Helmholtz coil system. In addition to this, Hall probe measurements are performed for magnet blocks while they are mounted in a specially designed cassette with vanadium-permendur poles. The magnet blocks will be sorted using these data to minimize errors. Computer simulations show that magnets may be sorted in decreasing strengths with little or no additional tuning of the undulators.

New MMC capacitor voltage balancing using sorting-less strategy in nearest level control

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ricco, Mattia; Máthé, Lászlo; Teodorescu, Remus

2016-01-01

This paper proposes a new strategy for balancing the Capacitor Voltages (CVs) for Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs). The balancing is one of the main challenges in MMC applications and it is usually solved by adopting a global arm control approach. For performing such an approach, a sorted list...... of the SubModules (SMs) according to their capacitor voltages is required. A common way to accomplish this task is to implement a sorting algorithm in the same controller used for the modulation technique. However, the execution time and the computational efforts of these kinds of algorithms increase very...

Model design and simulation of automatic sorting machine using proximity sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bankole I. Oladapo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The automatic sorting system has been reported to be complex and a global problem. This is because of the inability of sorting machines to incorporate flexibility in their design concept. This research therefore designed and developed an automated sorting object of a conveyor belt. The developed automated sorting machine is able to incorporate flexibility and separate species of non-ferrous metal objects and at the same time move objects automatically to the basket as defined by the regulation of the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC with a capacitive proximity sensor to detect a value range of objects. The result obtained shows that plastic, wood, and steel were sorted into their respective and correct position with an average, sorting, time of 9.903 s, 14.072 s and 18.648 s respectively. The proposed developed model of this research could be adopted at any institution or industries, whose practices are based on mechatronics engineering systems. This is to guide the industrial sector in sorting of object and teaching aid to institutions and hence produce the list of classified materials according to the enabled sorting program commands.

Two-sorted Point-Interval Temporal Logics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Balbiani, Philippe; Goranko, Valentin; Sciavicco, Guido

2011-01-01

There are two natural and well-studied approaches to temporal ontology and reasoning: point-based and interval-based. Usually, interval-based temporal reasoning deals with points as particular, duration-less intervals. Here we develop explicitly two-sorted point-interval temporal logical framework...... whereby time instants (points) and time periods (intervals) are considered on a par, and the perspective can shift between them within the formal discourse. We focus on fragments involving only modal operators that correspond to the inter-sort relations between points and intervals. We analyze...

Numerical study on the complete blood cell sorting using particle tracing and dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic device

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Haider; Park, Cheol Woo

2016-11-01

In this study, a numerical model of a microfluidic device with particle tracing and dielectrophoresis field-flow fractionation was employed to perform a complete and continuous blood cell sorting. A low voltage was applied to electrodes to separate the red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets based on their cell size. Blood cell sorting and counting were performed by evaluating the cell trajectories, displacements, residence times, and recovery rates in the device. A novel numerical technique was used to count the number of separated blood cells by estimating the displacement and residence time of the cells in a microfluidic device. For successful blood cell sorting, the value of cells displacement must be approximately equal to or higher than the corresponding maximum streamwise distance. The study also proposed different outlet designs to improve blood cell separation. The basic outlet design resulted in a higher cells recovery rate than the other outlets design. The recovery rate decreased as the number of inlet cells and flow rates increased because of the high particle-particle interactions and collisions with walls. The particle-particle interactions significantly affect blood cell sorting and must therefore be considered in future work.

Sorting on STAR. [CDC computer algorithm timing comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, H. S.

1978-01-01

Timing comparisons are given for three sorting algorithms written for the CDC STAR computer. One algorithm is Hoare's (1962) Quicksort, which is the fastest or nearly the fastest sorting algorithm for most computers. A second algorithm is a vector version of Quicksort that takes advantage of the STAR's vector operations. The third algorithm is an adaptation of Batcher's (1968) sorting algorithm, which makes especially good use of vector operations but has a complexity of N(log N)-squared as compared with a complexity of N log N for the Quicksort algorithms. In spite of its worse complexity, Batcher's sorting algorithm is competitive with the serial version of Quicksort for vectors up to the largest that can be treated by STAR. Vector Quicksort outperforms the other two algorithms and is generally preferred. These results indicate that unusual instruction sets can introduce biases in program execution time that counter results predicted by worst-case asymptotic complexity analysis.

A Quality Sorting of Fruit Using a New Automatic Image Processing Method

Science.gov (United States)

Amenomori, Michihiro; Yokomizu, Nobuyuki

This paper presents an innovative approach for quality sorting of objects such as apples sorting in an agricultural factory, using an image processing algorithm. The objective of our approach are; firstly to sort the objects by their colors precisely; secondly to detect any irregularity of the colors surrounding the apples efficiently. An experiment has been conducted and the results have been obtained and compared with that has been preformed by human sorting process and by color sensor sorting devices. The results demonstrate that our approach is capable to sort the objects rapidly and the percentage of classification valid rate was 100 %.

Gender Sorting across K-12 Schools in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Mark C.; Conger, Dylan

2013-01-01

This article documents evidence of nonrandom gender sorting across K-12 schools in the United States. The sorting exists among coed schools and at all grade levels, and it is highest in the secondary school grades. We observe some gender sorting across school sectors and types: for instance, males are slightly underrepresented in private schools…

Software information sorting code 'PLUTO-R'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsunematsu, Toshihide; Naraoka, Kenitsu; Adachi, Masao; Takeda, Tatsuoki

1984-10-01

A software information sorting code PLUTO-R is developed as one of the supporting codes of the TRITON system for the fusion plasma analysis. The objective of the PLUTO-R code is to sort reference materials of the codes in the TRITON code system. The easiness in the registration of information is especially pursued. As experience and skill in the data registration are not required, this code is usable for construction of general small-scale information system. This report gives an overall description and the user's manual of the PLUTO-R code. (author)

Sorting signed permutations by inversions in O(nlogn) time.

Science.gov (United States)

Swenson, Krister M; Rajan, Vaibhav; Lin, Yu; Moret, Bernard M E

2010-03-01

The study of genomic inversions (or reversals) has been a mainstay of computational genomics for nearly 20 years. After the initial breakthrough of Hannenhalli and Pevzner, who gave the first polynomial-time algorithm for sorting signed permutations by inversions, improved algorithms have been designed, culminating with an optimal linear-time algorithm for computing the inversion distance and a subquadratic algorithm for providing a shortest sequence of inversions--also known as sorting by inversions. Remaining open was the question of whether sorting by inversions could be done in O(nlogn) time. In this article, we present a qualified answer to this question, by providing two new sorting algorithms, a simple and fast randomized algorithm and a deterministic refinement. The deterministic algorithm runs in time O(nlogn + kn), where k is a data-dependent parameter. We provide the results of extensive experiments showing that both the average and the standard deviation for k are small constants, independent of the size of the permutation. We conclude (but do not prove) that almost all signed permutations can be sorted by inversions in O(nlogn) time.

Reduction of Aflatoxins in Apricot Kernels by Electronic and Manual Color Sorting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosanna Zivoli

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The efficacy of color sorting on reducing aflatoxin levels in shelled apricot kernels was assessed. Naturally-contaminated kernels were submitted to an electronic optical sorter or blanched, peeled, and manually sorted to visually identify and sort discolored kernels (dark and spotted from healthy ones. The samples obtained from the two sorting approaches were ground, homogenized, and analysed by HPLC-FLD for their aflatoxin content. A mass balance approach was used to measure the distribution of aflatoxins in the collected fractions. Aflatoxin B1 and B2 were identified and quantitated in all collected fractions at levels ranging from 1.7 to 22,451.5 µg/kg of AFB1 + AFB2, whereas AFG1 and AFG2 were not detected. Excellent results were obtained by manual sorting of peeled kernels since the removal of discolored kernels (2.6%–19.9% of total peeled kernels removed 97.3%–99.5% of total aflatoxins. The combination of peeling and visual/manual separation of discolored kernels is a feasible strategy to remove 97%–99% of aflatoxins accumulated in naturally-contaminated samples. Electronic optical sorter gave highly variable results since the amount of AFB1 + AFB2 measured in rejected fractions (15%–18% of total kernels ranged from 13% to 59% of total aflatoxins. An improved immunoaffinity-based HPLC-FLD method having low limits of detection for the four aflatoxins (0.01–0.05 µg/kg was developed and used to monitor the occurrence of aflatoxins in 47 commercial products containing apricot kernels and/or almonds commercialized in Italy. Low aflatoxin levels were found in 38% of the tested samples and ranged from 0.06 to 1.50 μg/kg for AFB1 and from 0.06 to 1.79 μg/kg for total aflatoxins.

Application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method and kano model to redesign fresh fruit bunches sorting tool

Science.gov (United States)

Anizar; Siregar, I.; Yahya, I.; Yesika, N.

2018-02-01

The activity of lowering fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from truck to sorting floor is performed manually by workers using a sorting tool. Previously, the sorting tool used is a pointed iron bar with a T-shaped handle. Changes made to the sorting tool causes several complaints on worker and affect the time to lower the fruit. The purpose of this article is to obtain the design of an FFB sorting tool that suits the needs of these workers by applying the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Kano Model methods. Both of the two methods will be integrated to find the design that matches workers’ image and psychological feeling. The main parameters are to obtain the customer requirements of the palm fruit loading workers, to find the most important technical characteristics and critical part affecting the quality of the FFB sorting tool. The customer requirements of the palm loading workers are the following : the color of the coating paint is gray, the bar material is made of stainless pipe, the main grip coating material is made of grip, the tip material is made of the spring steel, the additional grip is made of rubber and the handle is of triangular shape.

A sorting system with automated gates permits individual operant experiments with mice from a social home cage.

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, York; Schaefers, Andrea T U

2011-03-30

Behavioral experiments based on operant procedures can be time-consuming for small amounts of data. While individual testing and handling of animals can influence attention, emotion, and behavior, and interfere with experimental outcome, many operant protocols require individual testing. We developed an RFID-technology- and transponder-based sorting system that allows removing the human factor for longer-term experiments. Identity detectors and automated gates route mice individually from their social home cage to an adjacent operant compartment with 24/7 operation. CD1-mice learnt quickly to individually pass through the sorting system. At no time did more than a single mouse enter the operant compartment. After 3 days of adjusting to the sorting system, groups of 4 mice completed about 50 experimental trials per day in the operant compartment without experimenter intervention. The automated sorting system eliminates handling, isolation, and disturbance of the animals, eliminates experimenter-induced variability, saves experimenter time, and is financially economical. It makes possible a new approach for high-throughput experimentation, and is a viable tool for increasing quality and efficiency of many behavioral and neurobiological investigations. It can connect a social home cage, through individual sorting automation, to diverse setups including classical operant chambers, mazes, or arenas with video-based behavior classification. Such highly automated systems will permit efficient high-throughput screening even for transgenic animals with only subtle neurological or psychiatric symptoms where elaborate or longer-term protocols are required for behavioral diagnosis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of turbopump cavitation performance test facility and the test of inducer performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohn, Dong Kee; Kim, Chun Tak; Yoon, Min Soo; Cha, Bong Jun; Kim, Jin Han; Yang, Soo Seok

2001-01-01

A performance test facility for turbopump inducer cavitation was developed and the inducer cavitation performance tests were performed. Major components of the performance test facility are driving unit, test section, piping, water tank, and data acquisition and control system. The maximum of testing capability of this facility are as follows: flow rate - 30kg/s; pressure - 13 bar, rotational speed - 10,000rpm. This cavitation test facility is characterized by the booster pump installed at the outlet of the pump that extends the flow rate range, and by the pressure control system that makes the line pressure down to vapor pressure. The vacuum pump is used for removing the dissolved air in the water as well as the line pressure. Performance tests were carried out and preliminary data of test model inducer were obtained. The cavitation performance test and cavitation bubble flow visualization were also made. This facility is originally designed for turbopump inducer performance test and cavitation test. However it can be applied to the pump impeller performance test in the future with little modification

BayesMotif: de novo protein sorting motif discovery from impure datasets.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jianjun; Zhang, Fan

2010-01-18

Protein sorting is the process that newly synthesized proteins are transported to their target locations within or outside of the cell. This process is precisely regulated by protein sorting signals in different forms. A major category of sorting signals are amino acid sub-sequences usually located at the N-terminals or C-terminals of protein sequences. Genome-wide experimental identification of protein sorting signals is extremely time-consuming and costly. Effective computational algorithms for de novo discovery of protein sorting signals is needed to improve the understanding of protein sorting mechanisms. We formulated the protein sorting motif discovery problem as a classification problem and proposed a Bayesian classifier based algorithm (BayesMotif) for de novo identification of a common type of protein sorting motifs in which a highly conserved anchor is present along with a less conserved motif regions. A false positive removal procedure is developed to iteratively remove sequences that are unlikely to contain true motifs so that the algorithm can identify motifs from impure input sequences. Experiments on both implanted motif datasets and real-world datasets showed that the enhanced BayesMotif algorithm can identify anchored sorting motifs from pure or impure protein sequence dataset. It also shows that the false positive removal procedure can help to identify true motifs even when there is only 20% of the input sequences containing true motif instances. We proposed BayesMotif, a novel Bayesian classification based algorithm for de novo discovery of a special category of anchored protein sorting motifs from impure datasets. Compared to conventional motif discovery algorithms such as MEME, our algorithm can find less-conserved motifs with short highly conserved anchors. Our algorithm also has the advantage of easy incorporation of additional meta-sequence features such as hydrophobicity or charge of the motifs which may help to overcome the limitations of

Targeted sorting of single virus-infected cells of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joaquín Martínez Martínez

Full Text Available Discriminating infected from healthy cells is the first step to understanding the mechanisms and ecological implications of viral infection. We have developed a method for detecting, sorting, and performing molecular analysis of individual, infected cells of the important microalga Emiliania huxleyi, based on known physiological responses to viral infection. Of three fluorescent dyes tested, FM 1-43 (for detecting membrane blebbing gave the most unequivocal and earliest separation of cells. Furthermore, we were able to amplify the genomes of single infected cells using Multiple Displacement Amplification. This novel method to reliably discriminate infected from healthy cells in cultures will allow researchers to answer numerous questions regarding the mechanisms and implications of viral infection of E. huxleyi. The method may be transferable to other virus-host systems.

Q Fever Outbreak among Workers at a Waste-Sorting Plant.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Alonso

Full Text Available An outbreak of Q fever occurred in February-April 2014 among workers at a waste-sorting plant in Bilbao (Spain. The outbreak affected 58.5% of investigated employees, 47.2% as confirmed cases (PCR and/or serology and 11.3% as probable cases (symptoms without laboratory confirmation. Only employees who had no-access to the waste processing areas of the plant were not affected and incidence of infection was significantly higher among workers not using respiratory protection masks. Detection by qPCR of Coxiella burnetii in dust collected from surfaces of the plant facilities confirmed exposure of workers inside the plant. Animal remains sporadically detected among the residues received for waste-sorting were the most probable source of infection. After cleaning and disinfection, all environmental samples tested negative. Personal protection measures were reinforced and made compulsory for the staff and actions were taken to raise farmers' awareness of the biological risk of discharging animal carcasses as urban waste.

Design and analysis on sorting blade for automated size-based sorting device

Science.gov (United States)

Razali, Zol Bahri; Kader, Mohamed Mydin M. Abdul; Samsudin, Yasser Suhaimi; Daud, Mohd Hisam

2017-09-01

Nowadays rubbish separating or recycling is a main problem of nation, where peoples dumped their rubbish into dumpsite without caring the value of the rubbish if it can be recycled and reused. Thus the author proposed an automated segregating device, purposely to teach people to separate their rubbish and value the rubbish that can be reused. The automated size-based mechanical segregating device provides significant improvements in terms of efficiency and consistency in this segregating process. This device is designed to make recycling easier, user friendly, in the hope that more people will take responsibility if it is less of an expense of time and effort. This paper discussed about redesign a blade for the sorting device which is to develop an efficient automated mechanical sorting device for the similar material but in different size. The machine is able to identify the size of waste and it depends to the coil inside the container to separate it out. The detail design and methodology is described in detail in this paper.

Engineering quadrupole magnetic flow sorting for the isolation of pancreatic islets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kennedy, David J. [IKOtech, LLC, 3130 Highland Avenue, 3rd Floor, Cincinnati, OH 45219-2374 (United States)]. E-mail: David.Kennedy@IKOtech.com; Todd, Paul [SHOT, Inc., Greenville, IN (United States); Logan, Sam [SHOT, Inc., Greenville, IN (United States); Becker, Matthew [SHOT, Inc., Greenville, IN (United States); Papas, Klearchos K. [Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Moore, Lee R. [Biomedical Engineering Department, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH (United States)

2007-04-15

Quadrupole magnetic flow sorting (QMS) is being adapted from the separation of suspensions of single cells (<15 {mu}m) to the isolation of pancreatic islets (150-350 {mu}m) for transplant. To achieve this goal, the critical QMS components have been modeled and engineered to optimize the separation process. A flow channel has been designed, manufactured, and tested. The quadrupole magnet assembly has been designed and verified by finite element analysis. Pumps have been selected and verified by test. Test data generated from the pumps and flow channel demonstrate that the fabricated channel and peristaltic pumps fulfill the requirements of successful QMS separation.

Engineering quadrupole magnetic flow sorting for the isolation of pancreatic islets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, David J.; Todd, Paul; Logan, Sam; Becker, Matthew; Papas, Klearchos K.; Moore, Lee R.

2007-01-01

Quadrupole magnetic flow sorting (QMS) is being adapted from the separation of suspensions of single cells (<15 μm) to the isolation of pancreatic islets (150-350 μm) for transplant. To achieve this goal, the critical QMS components have been modeled and engineered to optimize the separation process. A flow channel has been designed, manufactured, and tested. The quadrupole magnet assembly has been designed and verified by finite element analysis. Pumps have been selected and verified by test. Test data generated from the pumps and flow channel demonstrate that the fabricated channel and peristaltic pumps fulfill the requirements of successful QMS separation

Coupling amplified DNA from flow-sorted chromosomes to high-density SNP mapping in barley

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartoš Jan

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Flow cytometry facilitates sorting of single chromosomes and chromosome arms which can be used for targeted genome analysis. However, the recovery of microgram amounts of DNA needed for some assays requires sorting of millions of chromosomes which is laborious and time consuming. Yet, many genomic applications such as development of genetic maps or physical mapping do not require large DNA fragments. In such cases time-consuming de novo sorting can be minimized by utilizing whole-genome amplification. Results Here we report a protocol optimized in barley including amplification of DNA from only ten thousand chromosomes, which can be isolated in less than one hour. Flow-sorted chromosomes were treated with proteinase K and amplified using Phi29 multiple displacement amplification (MDA. Overnight amplification in a 20-microlitre reaction produced 3.7 – 5.7 micrograms DNA with a majority of products between 5 and 30 kb. To determine the purity of sorted fractions and potential amplification bias we used quantitative PCR for specific genes on each chromosome. To extend the analysis to a whole genome level we performed an oligonucleotide pool assay (OPA for interrogation of 1524 loci, of which 1153 loci had known genetic map positions. Analysis of unamplified genomic DNA of barley cv. Akcent using this OPA resulted in 1426 markers with present calls. Comparison with three replicates of amplified genomic DNA revealed >99% concordance. DNA samples from amplified chromosome 1H and a fraction containing chromosomes 2H – 7H were examined. In addition to loci with known map positions, 349 loci with unknown map positions were included. Based on this analysis 40 new loci were mapped to 1H. Conclusion The results indicate a significant potential of using this approach for physical mapping. Moreover, the study showed that multiple displacement amplification of flow-sorted chromosomes is highly efficient and representative which

Sorting Real Numbers in $O(n\\sqrt{\\log n})$ Time and Linear Space

OpenAIRE

Han, Yijie

2017-01-01

We present an $O(n\\sqrt{\\log n})$ time and linear space algorithm for sorting real numbers. This breaks the long time illusion that real numbers have to be sorted by comparison sorting and take $\\Omega (n\\log n)$ time to be sorted.

4D CT sorting based on patient internal anatomy

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ruijiang; Lewis, John H.; Cerviño, Laura I.; Jiang, Steve B.

2009-08-01

Respiratory motion during free-breathing computed tomography (CT) scan may cause significant errors in target definition for tumors in the thorax and upper abdomen. A four-dimensional (4D) CT technique has been widely used for treatment simulation of thoracic and abdominal cancer radiotherapy. The current 4D CT techniques require retrospective sorting of the reconstructed CT slices oversampled at the same couch position. Most sorting methods depend on external surrogates of respiratory motion recorded by extra instruments. However, respiratory signals obtained from these external surrogates may not always accurately represent the internal target motion, especially when irregular breathing patterns occur. We have proposed a new sorting method based on multiple internal anatomical features for multi-slice CT scan acquired in the cine mode. Four features are analyzed in this study, including the air content, lung area, lung density and body area. We use a measure called spatial coherence to select the optimal internal feature at each couch position and to generate the respiratory signals for 4D CT sorting. The proposed method has been evaluated for ten cancer patients (eight with thoracic cancer and two with abdominal cancer). For nine patients, the respiratory signals generated from the combined internal features are well correlated to those from external surrogates recorded by the real-time position management (RPM) system (average correlation: 0.95 ± 0.02), which is better than any individual internal measures at 95% confidence level. For these nine patients, the 4D CT images sorted by the combined internal features are almost identical to those sorted by the RPM signal. For one patient with an irregular breathing pattern, the respiratory signals given by the combined internal features do not correlate well with those from RPM (correlation: 0.68 ± 0.42). In this case, the 4D CT image sorted by our method presents fewer artifacts than that from the RPM signal. Our

Multiple pathways for vacuolar sorting of yeast proteinase A

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Westphal, V; Marcusson, E G; Winther, Jakob R.

1996-01-01

The sorting of the yeast proteases proteinase A and carboxypeptidase Y to the vacuole is a saturable, receptor-mediated process. Information sufficient for vacuolar sorting of the normally secreted protein invertase has in fusion constructs previously been found to reside in the propeptide...

Reducing 4D CT artifacts using optimized sorting based on anatomic similarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Eric; Diehn, Maximilian; Murphy, James D; Loo, Billy W; Maxim, Peter G

2011-05-01

Four-dimensional (4D) computed tomography (CT) has been widely used as a tool to characterize respiratory motion in radiotherapy. The two most commonly used 4D CT algorithms sort images by the associated respiratory phase or displacement into a predefined number of bins, and are prone to image artifacts at transitions between bed positions. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate a method of reducing motion artifacts in 4D CT by incorporating anatomic similarity into phase or displacement based sorting protocols. Ten patient datasets were retrospectively sorted using both the displacement and phase based sorting algorithms. Conventional sorting methods allow selection of only the nearest-neighbor image in time or displacement within each bin. In our method, for each bed position either the displacement or the phase defines the center of a bin range about which several candidate images are selected. The two dimensional correlation coefficients between slices bordering the interface between adjacent couch positions are then calculated for all candidate pairings. Two slices have a high correlation if they are anatomically similar. Candidates from each bin are then selected to maximize the slice correlation over the entire data set using the Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. To assess the reduction of artifacts, two thoracic radiation oncologists independently compared the resorted 4D datasets pairwise with conventionally sorted datasets, blinded to the sorting method, to choose which had the least motion artifacts. Agreement between reviewers was evaluated using the weighted kappa score. Anatomically based image selection resulted in 4D CT datasets with significantly reduced motion artifacts with both displacement (P = 0.0063) and phase sorting (P = 0.00022). There was good agreement between the two reviewers, with complete agreement 34 times and complete disagreement 6 times. Optimized sorting using anatomic similarity significantly reduces 4D CT motion

Flow cytogenetics and chromosome sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Cram, L S

1990-06-01

This review of flow cytogenetics and chromosome sorting provides an overview of general information in the field and describes recent developments in more detail. From the early developments of chromosome analysis involving single parameter or one color analysis to the latest developments in slit scanning of single chromosomes in a flow stream, the field has progressed rapidly and most importantly has served as an important enabling technology for the human genome project. Technological innovations that advanced flow cytogenetics are described and referenced. Applications in basic cell biology, molecular biology, and clinical investigations are presented. The necessary characteristics for large number chromosome sorting are highlighted. References to recent review articles are provided as a starting point for locating individual references that provide more detail. Specific references are provided for recent developments.

Neuronal spike sorting based on radial basis function neural networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taghavi Kani M

2011-02-01

Full Text Available "nBackground: Studying the behavior of a society of neurons, extracting the communication mechanisms of brain with other tissues, finding treatment for some nervous system diseases and designing neuroprosthetic devices, require an algorithm to sort neuralspikes automatically. However, sorting neural spikes is a challenging task because of the low signal to noise ratio (SNR of the spikes. The main purpose of this study was to design an automatic algorithm for classifying neuronal spikes that are emitted from a specific region of the nervous system."n "nMethods: The spike sorting process usually consists of three stages: detection, feature extraction and sorting. We initially used signal statistics to detect neural spikes. Then, we chose a limited number of typical spikes as features and finally used them to train a radial basis function (RBF neural network to sort the spikes. In most spike sorting devices, these signals are not linearly discriminative. In order to solve this problem, the aforesaid RBF neural network was used."n "nResults: After the learning process, our proposed algorithm classified any arbitrary spike. The obtained results showed that even though the proposed Radial Basis Spike Sorter (RBSS reached to the same error as the previous methods, however, the computational costs were much lower compared to other algorithms. Moreover, the competitive points of the proposed algorithm were its good speed and low computational complexity."n "nConclusion: Regarding the results of this study, the proposed algorithm seems to serve the purpose of procedures that require real-time processing and spike sorting.

Machine Vision System for Color Sorting Wood Edge-Glued Panel Parts

Science.gov (United States)

Qiang Lu; S. Srikanteswara; W. King; T. Drayer; Richard Conners; D. Earl Kline; Philip A. Araman

1997-01-01

This paper describes an automatic color sorting system for hardwood edge-glued panel parts. The color sorting system simultaneously examines both faces of a panel part and then determines which face has the "better" color given specified color uniformity and priority defined by management. The real-time color sorting system software and hardware are briefly...

Event-driven processing for hardware-efficient neural spike sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yan; Pereira, João L.; Constandinou, Timothy G.

2018-02-01

Objective. The prospect of real-time and on-node spike sorting provides a genuine opportunity to push the envelope of large-scale integrated neural recording systems. In such systems the hardware resources, power requirements and data bandwidth increase linearly with channel count. Event-based (or data-driven) processing can provide here a new efficient means for hardware implementation that is completely activity dependant. In this work, we investigate using continuous-time level-crossing sampling for efficient data representation and subsequent spike processing. Approach. (1) We first compare signals (synthetic neural datasets) encoded with this technique against conventional sampling. (2) We then show how such a representation can be directly exploited by extracting simple time domain features from the bitstream to perform neural spike sorting. (3) The proposed method is implemented in a low power FPGA platform to demonstrate its hardware viability. Main results. It is observed that considerably lower data rates are achievable when using 7 bits or less to represent the signals, whilst maintaining the signal fidelity. Results obtained using both MATLAB and reconfigurable logic hardware (FPGA) indicate that feature extraction and spike sorting accuracies can be achieved with comparable or better accuracy than reference methods whilst also requiring relatively low hardware resources. Significance. By effectively exploiting continuous-time data representation, neural signal processing can be achieved in a completely event-driven manner, reducing both the required resources (memory, complexity) and computations (operations). This will see future large-scale neural systems integrating on-node processing in real-time hardware.

Testing of X-ray radiometric enrichnment of polymetallic ores

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eliseev, N.I.; Panova, N.I.; Kirbitova, N.V.; Shramm, E.O.; Efremov, Yu.G.

1987-01-01

Testing of X-ray radiometric method of sorting of polymetallic ores using the developed X-ray radiometric device was conducted. It was shown that introduction of preliminary concentration at the factory made the method of fragment separation to be the perspective one, enabling to elevate the factory production with respect to commercial ore and reduce the cost of ore processing. In the case of preliminary concentration, conducted at the mine, it is advisable to perform ore sorting in the flow formed to monolayer

Using Design Sketch to Teach Bubble Sort in High School

OpenAIRE

Liu, Chih-Hao; Jiu, Yi-Wen; Chen, Jason Jen-Yen

2009-01-01

Bubble Sort is simple. Yet, it seems a bit difficult for high school students. This paper presents a pedagogical methodology: Using Design Sketch to visualize the concepts in Bubble Sort, and to evaluate how this approach assists students to understand the pseudo code of Bubble Sort. An experiment is conducted in Wu-Ling Senior High School with 250 students taking part. The statistical analysis of experimental results shows that, for relatively high abstraction concepts, such as iteration num...

The PreferenSort: A Holistic Instrument for Career Counseling

Science.gov (United States)

Amit, Adi; Sagiv, Lilach

2013-01-01

We present the PreferenSort, a career counseling instrument that derives counselees' vocational interests from their preferences among occupational titles. The PreferenSort allows for a holistic decision process, while taking into account the full complexity of occupations and encouraging deliberation about one's preferences and acceptable…

Reduction of Aflatoxins in Apricot Kernels by Electronic and Manual Color Sorting

OpenAIRE

Zivoli, Rosanna; Gambacorta, Lucia; Piemontese, Luca; Solfrizzo, Michele

2016-01-01

The efficacy of color sorting on reducing aflatoxin levels in shelled apricot kernels was assessed. Naturally-contaminated kernels were submitted to an electronic optical sorter or blanched, peeled, and manually sorted to visually identify and sort discolored kernels (dark and spotted) from healthy ones. The samples obtained from the two sorting approaches were ground, homogenized, and analysed by HPLC-FLD for their aflatoxin content. A mass balance approach was used to measure the distributi...

Executive function assessment in patients with subcortical cerebral infarction using the Trail Making Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niiyama, Kazuhide; Hasegawa, Akira; Kato, Haruhisa; Umesato, Naoyuki; Utsumi, Hiroya

2008-01-01

To assess executive function in patients with subcortical cerebral infarctions, we implemented a Trail Making Test (TMT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We recruited 19 patients who had subcortical cerebral infarction on magnetic resonance images (MRI). The patients were classified into two categories depending on the degree of deep white matter hyperintensity (DWMH) on MRI. On comparing MRI and pathological findings, the punctate DWMH was not associated with infarction, but large confluent DWMH suggests subcortical ischemia. On this basis, the low grade DWMH group consisted of 12 patients with punctate foci, and seven patients with large confluent areas were classified in the high grade DWMH group. All patients were right-handed and without symptomatic hemiparesis. To exclude demented patients, cognitive function was examined. The vascular lesions were confirmed by brain magnetic resonance angiography and ultrasonography of the carotid arteries, and we excluded patients with severe stenotic or occlusive vascular lesions in cerebral or carotid arteries. On TMT, we analyzed the time required for Part A and Part B, and the difference in time required (required time difference). We also subtracted the time required for Part A form that required for Part B. To exclude the influence of potential hemiparesis, we also calculated the time required ratio expressed as follows; time required for Part B/time required for Part A. There was no significant increase in the time required for Part A, but we found significant increase in the time required for Part B, the required time difference and the required time ratio in the high grade DWMH group. There was no significant difference on WCST. On pathological examination in normal elderly subjects, punctate foci can be found, but not large confluent DWMH. In this study, we found that patients with severe DWMH may have impaired executive functions. These results might be induced by the pathological features of subcortical

Selective sorting of waste

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Not much effort needed, just willpower In order to keep the cost of disposing of waste materials as low as possible, CERN provides two types of recipient at the entrance to each building: a green plastic one for paper/cardboard and a metal one for general refuse. For some time now we have noticed, to our great regret, a growing negligence as far as selective sorting is concerned, with, for example, the green recipients being filled with a mixture of cardboard boxes full of polystyrene or protective wrappers, plastic bottles, empty yogurts pots, etc. …We have been able to ascertain, after careful checking, that this haphazard mixing of waste cannot be attributed to the cleaning staff but rather to members of the personnel who unscrupulously throw away their rubbish in a completely random manner. Non-sorted waste entails heavy costs for CERN. For information, once a non-compliant item is found in a green recipient, the entire contents are sent off for incineration rather than recycling… We are all concerned...

An introduction to three algorithms for sorting in situ

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, E.W.; Gasteren, van A.J.M.

1982-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to give a crisp introduction to three algorithms for sorting in situ, viz. insertion sort, heapsort and smoothsort. The more complicated the algorithm, the more elaborate the justification for the design decisions embodied by it. In passing we offer a style for the

Vertical sorting and the morphodynamics of bed form-dominated rivers : a sorting evolution model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blom, Astrid; Ribberink, Jan S.; Parker, Gary

2008-01-01

Existing sediment continuity models for nonuniform sediment suffer from a number of shortcomings, as they fail to describe vertical sorting fluxes other than through net aggradation or degradation of the bed and are based on a discrete representation of the bed material interacting with the flow. We

Nanofluidic single-molecule sorting of DNA: a new concept in separation and analysis of biomolecules towards ultimate level performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Takatoki; Fujii, Teruo

2010-01-01

Separation and separation-based analysis of biomolecules are fundamentally important techniques in the field of biotechnology. These techniques, however, depend on stochastic processes that intrinsically involve uncertainty, and thus it is not possible to achieve 100% separation accuracy. Theoretically, the ultimate resolution and sensitivity should be realized in a single-molecule system because of the deterministic nature of single-molecule manipulation. Here, we have proposed and experimentally demonstrated the concept of a 'single-molecule sorter' that detects and correctly identifies individual single molecules, realizing the ultimate level of resolution and sensitivity for any separation-based technology. The single-molecule sorter was created using a nanofluidic network consisting of a single inlet channel that branches off into multiple outlet channels. It includes two major functional elements, namely a single-molecule detection and identification element and a flow path switching element to accurately separate single molecules. With this system we have successfully demonstrated the world's first single-molecule sorting using DNA as a sample molecule. In the future, we hope to expand the application of such devices to comprehensive sorting of single-proteins from a single cell. We also believe that in addition to the single-molecule sorting method reported here, other types of single-molecule based processes will emerge and find use in a wide variety of applications.

Composition of source-sorted municipal organic waste collected in Danish cities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Trine Lund; Jansen, Jes La Cour; Spliid, Henrik

2007-01-01

Source-sorted municipal organic waste from different dwelling types in five Danish cities was sampled during one year. The samples were from permanent, full-scale systems or temporary, experimental systems for collection of source-sorted municipal organic waste. Pre-treatment of the organic waste...... prior to biological treatment was used in all cities to remove foreign objects and provide size reduction. All sampling was performed after pre-treatment in order to obtain more homogeneous and representative samples. The sampling included both the pre-treated waste and the reject from the pre......-treatment allowing for estimation of the composition of the original waste. A total of 40 waste samples were chemically characterised with respect to 15 parameters. The waste generally consisted of around 88% VS of which an average of 80% was easily degradable. The average content of N, P and K in the dry matter...

Assessing of bulk materials mixing and sorting by radiotracer methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thyn, J.

1983-01-01

Various applications are indicated of tracer techniques for the evaluation of mixing and sorting of mixtures of solid particles. The evaluation of the process of mixing, i.e., the determination of the homogenization time is done by labelling of the entire volume of the monitored component of the mixture and continuous detection of radiation through the walls of the mixer using one or several detectors. The evaluation of the character of the flow and the evacuation of solid particles from the bin is done by labelling with a radiotracer the material which is spread out on the top along the whole cross-section of the bin, and the concentration is monitored of the tracer in the material outflow. The evaluation of material sorting in bins which takes place during the filling and emptying is done on the basis of significance tests or using self-correlation functions and frequency characteristics. Also monitored was the dependence of the equalizing ability of the continuous gravity mixer at the vertex angle of the tip. (M.D.)

Sorting out river channel patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleinhans, M.G.

2010-01-01

Rivers self-organize their pattern/planform through feedbacks between bars, channels, floodplain and vegetation, which emerge as a result of the basic spatial sorting process of wash load sediment and bed sediment. The balance between floodplain formation and destruction determines the width and

Textiles Performance Testing Facilities

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Textiles Performance Testing Facilities has the capabilities to perform all physical wet and dry performance testing, and visual and instrumental color analysis...

Continuous sorting of Brownian particles using coupled photophoresis and asymmetric potential cycling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Tuck Wah; Neild, Adrian; Heeraman, Pascal

2008-03-15

Feasible sorters need to function rapidly and permit the input and delivery of particles continuously. Here, we describe a scheme that incorporates (i) restricted spatial input location and (ii) orthogonal sort and movement direction features. Sorting is achieved using an asymmetric potential that is cycled on and off, whereas movement is accomplished using photophoresis. Simulations with 0.2 and 0.5 microm diameter spherical particles indicate that sorting can commence quickly from a continuous stream. Procedures to optimize the sorting scheme are also described.

Det sorte USA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brøndal, Jørn

Bogen gennemgår det sorte USAs historie fra 1776 til 2016, idet grundtemaet er spændingsforholdet mellem USAs grundlæggelsesidealer og den racemæssige praksis, et spændingsforhold som Gunnar Myrdal kaldte "det amerikanske dilemma." Bogen, der er opbygget som politisk, social og racemæssig histori......, er opdelt i 13 kapitler og består af fire dele: Første del: Slaveriet; anden del: Jim Crow; tredje del. King-årene; fjerde del: Frem mod Obama....

Effects of Added Enzymes on Sorted, Unsorted and Sorted-Out Barley: A Model Study on Realtime Viscosity and Process Potentials Using Rapid Visco Analyser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shetty, Radhakrishna; Zhuang, Shiwen; Olsen, Rasmus Lyngsø

2017-01-01

Barley sorting is an important step for selecting grain of required quality for malting prior to brewing. However, brewing with unmalted barley with added enzymes has been thoroughly proven, raising the question of whether traditional sorting for high quality malting-barley is still necessary. To...

The Application of PEC System on Thickness Measurement and Material Sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nurul Ain Ahmad Latif; Ilham Mukriz Zainal Abidin; Noorhazleena Azaman

2015-01-01

Pulsed eddy current (PEC) is an advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) technique that operates based on electromagnetic principle and widely used in various industry including aviation, petrochemical and transportation. Compared to conventional eddy current technique, the major advantages of this technique is it contains a wideband of frequency in its excitation which makes it highly sensitive in distinguishing the location of defects deeply buried in conductive materials. The PEC system is established through a combination of several equipment i.e. power supply, oscilloscope, amplifier, pre amplifier and multi function generator. For the highest sensitivity in detection, the probe that acts as the detector is designed and fabricated with a magnetic sensor at its core. Generally, during the PEC experiment, the probe is place on the surface of the specimen and the signals obtain are simultaneously transferred and displayed on the oscilloscope. Among the basic testing that can be performed by PEC system include conductivity measurement for material sorting and thickness measurement. For the validation purposes, the results obtained through the experiment are compared with the results from finite element method (FEM) simulation conducted using COMSOL software. (author)

Optimization of magnet sorting in a storage ring using genetic algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Jia; Wang Lin; Li Weimin; Gao Weiwei

2013-01-01

In this paper, the genetic algorithms are applied to the optimization problem of magnet sorting in an electron storage ring, according to which the objectives are set so that the closed orbit distortion and beta beating can be minimized and the dynamic aperture maximized. The sorting of dipole, quadrupole and sextupole magnets is optimized while the optimization results show the power of the application of genetic algorithms in magnet sorting. (authors)

Operator performance in non-destructive testing: A study of operator performance in a performance test

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Enkvist, J.; Edland, A.; Svenson, Ola [Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Psychology

2000-05-15

In the process industries there is a need of inspecting the integrity of critical components without disrupting the process. Such in-service inspections are typically performed with non-destructive testing (NDT). In NDT the task of the operator is to (based on diagnostic information) decide if the component can remain in service or not. The present study looks at the performance in NDT. The aim is to improve performance, in the long run, by exploring the operators' decision strategies and other underlying factors and to this way find out what makes some operators more successful than others. Sixteen operators performed manual ultrasonic inspections of four test pieces with the aim to detect (implanted) cracks. In addition to these performance demonstration tests (PDT), the operators performed independent ability tests and filled out questionnaires. The results show that operators who trust their gut feeling more than the procedure (when the two come to different results) and that at the same time have a positive attitude towards the procedure have a higher PDT performance. These results indicate the need for operators to be motivated and confident when performing NDT. It was also found that the operators who performed better rated more decision criteria higher in the detection phase than the operators who performed worse. For characterizing it was the other way around. Also, the operators who performed better used more time, both detecting and characterizing, than the operators who performed worse.

Operator performance in non-destructive testing: A study of operator performance in a performance test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Enkvist, J.; Edland, A.; Svenson, Ola

2000-05-01

In the process industries there is a need of inspecting the integrity of critical components without disrupting the process. Such in-service inspections are typically performed with non-destructive testing (NDT). In NDT the task of the operator is to (based on diagnostic information) decide if the component can remain in service or not. The present study looks at the performance in NDT. The aim is to improve performance, in the long run, by exploring the operators' decision strategies and other underlying factors and to this way find out what makes some operators more successful than others. Sixteen operators performed manual ultrasonic inspections of four test pieces with the aim to detect (implanted) cracks. In addition to these performance demonstration tests (PDT), the operators performed independent ability tests and filled out questionnaires. The results show that operators who trust their gut feeling more than the procedure (when the two come to different results) and that at the same time have a positive attitude towards the procedure have a higher PDT performance. These results indicate the need for operators to be motivated and confident when performing NDT. It was also found that the operators who performed better rated more decision criteria higher in the detection phase than the operators who performed worse. For characterizing it was the other way around. Also, the operators who performed better used more time, both detecting and characterizing, than the operators who performed worse

A low-cost machine vision system for the recognition and sorting of small parts

Science.gov (United States)

Barea, Gustavo; Surgenor, Brian W.; Chauhan, Vedang; Joshi, Keyur D.

2018-04-01

An automated machine vision-based system for the recognition and sorting of small parts was designed, assembled and tested. The system was developed to address a need to expose engineering students to the issues of machine vision and assembly automation technology, with readily available and relatively low-cost hardware and software. This paper outlines the design of the system and presents experimental performance results. Three different styles of plastic gears, together with three different styles of defective gears, were used to test the system. A pattern matching tool was used for part classification. Nine experiments were conducted to demonstrate the effects of changing various hardware and software parameters, including: conveyor speed, gear feed rate, classification, and identification score thresholds. It was found that the system could achieve a maximum system accuracy of 95% at a feed rate of 60 parts/min, for a given set of parameter settings. Future work will be looking at the effect of lighting.

Automated transport and sorting system in a large reference laboratory: part 1. Evaluation of needs and alternatives and development of a plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawker, Charles D; Garr, Susan B; Hamilton, Leslie T; Penrose, John R; Ashwood, Edward R; Weiss, Ronald L

2002-10-01

Our laboratory, a large, commercial, esoteric reference laboratory, sought some form of total laboratory automation to keep pace with rapid growth of specimen volumes as well as to meet competitive demands for cost reduction and improved turnaround time. We conducted a systematic evaluation of our needs, which led to the development of a plan to implement an automated transport and sorting system. We systematically analyzed and studied our specimen containers, test submission requirements and temperatures, and the workflow and movement of people, specimens, and information throughout the laboratory. We performed an intricate timing study that identified bottlenecks in our manual handling processes. We also evaluated various automation options. The automation alternative viewed to best meet our needs was a transport and sorting system from MDS AutoLab. Our comprehensive plan also included a new standardized transport tube; a centralized automated core laboratory for higher volume tests; a new "automation-friendly" software system for order entry, tracking, and process control; a complete reengineering of our order-entry, handling, and tracking processes; and remodeling of our laboratory facility and specimen processing area. The scope of this project and its potential impact on overall laboratory operations and performance justified the extensive time we invested (nearly 4 years) in a systematic approach to the evaluation, design, and planning of this project.

Predicting story goodness performance from cognitive measures following traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Lê, Karen; Coelho, Carl; Mozeiko, Jennifer; Krueger, Frank; Grafman, Jordan

2012-05-01

This study examined the prediction of performance on measures of the Story Goodness Index (SGI; Lê, Coelho, Mozeiko, & Grafman, 2011) from executive function (EF) and memory measures following traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that EF and memory measures would significantly predict SGI outcomes. One hundred sixty-seven individuals with TBI participated in the study. Story retellings were analyzed using the SGI protocol. Three cognitive measures--Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS; Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001) Sorting Test, Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1997) Working Memory Primary Index (WMI), and WMS-III Immediate Memory Primary Index (IMI)--were entered into a multiple linear regression model for each discourse measure. Two sets of regression analyses were performed, the first with the Sorting Test as the first predictor and the second with it as the last. The first set of regression analyses identified the Sorting Test and IMI as the only significant predictors of performance on measures of the SGI. The second set identified all measures as significant predictors when evaluating each step of the regression function. The cognitive variables predicted performance on the SGI measures, although there were differences in the amount of explained variance. The results (a) suggest that storytelling ability draws on a number of underlying skills and (b) underscore the importance of using discrete cognitive tasks rather than broad cognitive indices to investigate the cognitive substrates of discourse.

Spiking Neural Networks Based on OxRAM Synapses for Real-Time Unsupervised Spike Sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Thilo; Vianello, Elisa; Bichler, Olivier; Garbin, Daniele; Cattaert, Daniel; Yvert, Blaise; De Salvo, Barbara; Perniola, Luca

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present an alternative approach to perform spike sorting of complex brain signals based on spiking neural networks (SNN). The proposed architecture is suitable for hardware implementation by using resistive random access memory (RRAM) technology for the implementation of synapses whose low latency (spike sorting. This offers promising advantages to conventional spike sorting techniques for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and neural prosthesis applications. Moreover, the ultra-low power consumption of the RRAM synapses of the spiking neural network (nW range) may enable the design of autonomous implantable devices for rehabilitation purposes. We demonstrate an original methodology to use Oxide based RRAM (OxRAM) as easy to program and low energy (Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity. Real spiking data have been recorded both intra- and extracellularly from an in-vitro preparation of the Crayfish sensory-motor system and used for validation of the proposed OxRAM based SNN. This artificial SNN is able to identify, learn, recognize and distinguish between different spike shapes in the input signal with a recognition rate about 90% without any supervision.

Q-sort assessment vs visual analog scale in the evaluation of smile esthetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Schabel, Brian J; McNamara, James A; Franchi, Lorenzo; Baccetti, Tiziano

2009-04-01

This study was designed to compare the reliability of the Q-sort and visual analog scale (VAS) methods for the assessment of smile esthetics. Furthermore, agreement between orthodontists and parents of orthodontic patients, and between male and female raters, was assessed in terms of subjective evaluation of the smile. Clinical photographs and digital video captures of 48 orthodontically treated patients were rated by 2 panels: 25 experienced orthodontists (15 men, 10 women) and 20 parents of the patients (8 men, 12 women). Interrater reliability of the Q-sort and VAS methods was evaluated by using single-measure and average-measure intraclass correlation (ICC). Kappa agreement and the McNemar test were used to evaluate agreement between orthodontists and parents, and between men and women, for "attractive" and "unattractive" images of smiles captured with clinical photography. The single-measure ICC coefficients showed fair to good reliability of the Q-sort and poor reliability of the VAS for measuring esthetic preferences of an individual orthodontist or parent. Both rating groups agreed significantly (P >0.05) on the total percentage of "attractive" images of smiles captured with clinical photography. Men and women, however, significantly disagreed on the total percentages of "attractive" and "unattractive" smiles. Women rated higher percentages of both image groups as "attractive" than did their male counterparts. The Q-sort was more reliable than the VAS for measuring smile esthetics. Orthodontists and parents of orthodontic patients agreed with respect to "attractive" and "unattractive" smiles. Men and women agreed poorly with respect to "attractive" and "unattractive" smiles.

Decision trees with minimum average depth for sorting eight elements

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.; Chikalov, Igor; Moshkov, Mikhail

2015-01-01

We prove that the minimum average depth of a decision tree for sorting 8 pairwise different elements is equal to 620160/8!. We show also that each decision tree for sorting 8 elements, which has minimum average depth (the number of such trees

A Framework for the Comparative Assessment of Neuronal Spike Sorting Algorithms towards More Accurate Off-Line and On-Line Microelectrode Arrays Data Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Regalia, Giulia; Coelli, Stefania; Biffi, Emilia; Ferrigno, Giancarlo; Pedrocchi, Alessandra

2016-01-01

Neuronal spike sorting algorithms are designed to retrieve neuronal network activity on a single-cell level from extracellular multiunit recordings with Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs). In typical analysis of MEA data, one spike sorting algorithm is applied indiscriminately to all electrode signals. However, this approach neglects the dependency of algorithms' performances on the neuronal signals properties at each channel, which require data-centric methods. Moreover, sorting is commonly performed off-line, which is time and memory consuming and prevents researchers from having an immediate glance at ongoing experiments. The aim of this work is to provide a versatile framework to support the evaluation and comparison of different spike classification algorithms suitable for both off-line and on-line analysis. We incorporated different spike sorting "building blocks" into a Matlab-based software, including 4 feature extraction methods, 3 feature clustering methods, and 1 template matching classifier. The framework was validated by applying different algorithms on simulated and real signals from neuronal cultures coupled to MEAs. Moreover, the system has been proven effective in running on-line analysis on a standard desktop computer, after the selection of the most suitable sorting methods. This work provides a useful and versatile instrument for a supported comparison of different options for spike sorting towards more accurate off-line and on-line MEA data analysis.

Free Sorting and Association Task: A Variant of the Free Sorting Method Applied to Study the Impact of Dried Sourdough as an Ingredienton the Related Bread Odor.

Science.gov (United States)

Pétel, Cécile; Courcoux, Philippe; Génovesi, Noémie; Rouillé, Jocelyn; Onno, Bernard; Prost, Carole

2017-04-01

This paper presents a new variant of the free sorting method developed to analyze the relationship between dried sourdough (DSD) and corresponding DSD-bread (bread) odors. The comparison of DSD and bread sensory characteristics is complicated due to their specific features (for example, acidity for DSD and a characteristic "baked bread" aroma for breads). To analyze them at the same time, this study introduces a new variant of the free sorting method, which adds an association task between DSD and bread after those of free sorting and verbalization. This separation makes it possible to change the product between tasks. It was applied to study the impact of 6 European commercial DSDs on their related DSD-bread. According to our results, this methodology enabled an association between different kinds of products and thus underlined the relationship between them. Moreover, as this methodology contains a verbalization task, it provides product descriptions. Compared with the standard free sorting method, free sorting with an association task gives the distance (i) between DSDs, (ii) between breads, and (iii) between DSDs and breads. The separation of product assessment through sorting and association avoids the separation of products according to their category (DSD or bread). © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

The role of waste sorting in the South African gold-mining industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freer, J.S.; Boehme, R.C.

1985-01-01

The absolute potential for sorting waste from run-of-mine Witwatersrand gold ores normally lies between 60 and 90 per cent by mass. At present, the practical potential lies between 40 and 50 per cent. Yet few mines achieve a waste rejection of even 30 per cent. The average waste rejection for industry, including underground sorting, fell from 19,6 per cent in 1959 to 10,1 per cent in 1983, as industry moved from labour-intensive, multistage comminution, incorporating washing, screening, and sorting, to single-stage run-of-mine milling. Most of the sorting is still being done by hand; yet photometric and radiometric sorting machines of high capacity are available. More recently, a sorter based on neutron activation and the subsequent isomeric radioactive decay of gold itself was designed. This paper examines the case for an increased role for sorting in the South African gold-mining industry brought about by the increasing cost of power for milling and the possibility of extracting gold from low-grade reject fractions by heap leaching

Card Sorting: noções sobre a técnica para teste e desenvolvimento de categorizações e vocabulários / Card Sorting: principles on a method to test and development of categorizations and vocabularies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Marques de Faria

2010-07-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar o Card Sorting, técnica de análise e organização de vocabulários controlados, e tem por finalidade explorar a relação dos usuários com o desenvolvimento de serviços de informação. A chave da utilização é a participação de usuários finais no processo, permitindo entender como eles categorizam as informações disponíveis num processo de busca, identificando qual terminologia é a mais usual, qual pode gerar confusões e que termos são mais difíceis de categorizar. Esta técnica pode ser utilizada em arquitetura da informação na definição de estruturas de web sites ou a criação de taxonomias e tesauros. É um método extremamente simples e barato, de grande flexibilidade, que permite uma grande interação entre bibliotecários e seu público. Existem duas formas básicas de Card Sorting a ‘aberta’ onde o usuário participa ativamente na sugestão do vocabulário e a ‘fechada’ onde é definida uma estrutura hierárquica lógica utilizando termos pré-definidos.

Learning banknote fitness for sorting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geusebroek, J.M.; Markus, P.; Balke, P.

2011-01-01

In this work, a machine learning method is proposed for banknote soiling determination. We apply proven techniques from computer vision to come up with a robust and effective method for automatic sorting of banknotes. The proposed method is evaluated with respect to various invariance classes. The

Sorting fluorescent nanocrystals with DNA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gerion, Daniele; Parak, Wolfgang J.; Williams, Shara C.; Zanchet, Daniela; Micheel, Christine M.; Alivisatos, A. Paul

2001-12-10

Semiconductor nanocrystals with narrow and tunable fluorescence are covalently linked to oligonucleotides. These biocompounds retain the properties of both nanocrystals and DNA. Therefore, different sequences of DNA can be coded with nanocrystals and still preserve their ability to hybridize to their complements. We report the case where four different sequences of DNA are linked to four nanocrystal samples having different colors of emission in the range of 530-640 nm. When the DNA-nanocrystal conjugates are mixed together, it is possible to sort each type of nanoparticle using hybridization on a defined micrometer -size surface containing the complementary oligonucleotide. Detection of sorting requires only a single excitation source and an epifluorescence microscope. The possibility of directing fluorescent nanocrystals towards specific biological targets and detecting them, combined with their superior photo-stability compared to organic dyes, opens the way to improved biolabeling experiments, such as gene mapping on a nanometer scale or multicolor microarray analysis.

Sorting genomes by reciprocal translocations, insertions, and deletions.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Xingqin; Li, Guojun; Li, Shuguang; Xu, Ying

2010-01-01

The problem of sorting by reciprocal translocations (abbreviated as SBT) arises from the field of comparative genomics, which is to find a shortest sequence of reciprocal translocations that transforms one genome Pi into another genome Gamma, with the restriction that Pi and Gamma contain the same genes. SBT has been proved to be polynomial-time solvable, and several polynomial algorithms have been developed. In this paper, we show how to extend Bergeron's SBT algorithm to include insertions and deletions, allowing to compare genomes containing different genes. In particular, if the gene set of Pi is a subset (or superset, respectively) of the gene set of Gamma, we present an approximation algorithm for transforming Pi into Gamma by reciprocal translocations and deletions (insertions, respectively), providing a sorting sequence with length at most OPT + 2, where OPT is the minimum number of translocations and deletions (insertions, respectively) needed to transform Pi into Gamma; if Pi and Gamma have different genes but not containing each other, we give a heuristic to transform Pi into Gamma by a shortest sequence of reciprocal translocations, insertions, and deletions, with bounds for the length of the sorting sequence it outputs. At a conceptual level, there is some similarity between our algorithm and the algorithm developed by El Mabrouk which is used to sort two chromosomes with different gene contents by reversals, insertions, and deletions.

Design of monitoring system for mail-sorting based on the Profibus S7 series PLC

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, W.; Jia, S. H.; Wang, Y. H.; Liu, H.; Tang, G. C.

2017-01-01

With the rapid development of the postal express, the workload of mail sorting is increasing, but the automatic technology of mail sorting is not mature enough. In view of this, the system uses Siemens S7-300 PLC as the main station controller, PLC of Siemens S7-200/400 is from the station controller, through the man-machine interface configuration software MCGS, PROFIBUS-DP communication, RFID technology and mechanical sorting hand achieve mail classification sorting monitoring. Among them, distinguish mail-sorting by scanning RFID posted in the mail electronic bar code (fixed code), the system uses the corresponding controller on the acquisition of information processing, the processed information transmit to the sorting manipulator by PROFIBUS-DP. The system can realize accurate and efficient mail sorting, which will promote the development of mail sorting technology.

Multi-objective optimization of combustion, performance and emission parameters in a jatropha biodiesel engine using Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II

Science.gov (United States)

Dhingra, Sunil; Bhushan, Gian; Dubey, Kashyap Kumar

2014-03-01

The present work studies and identifies the different variables that affect the output parameters involved in a single cylinder direct injection compression ignition (CI) engine using jatropha biodiesel. Response surface methodology based on Central composite design (CCD) is used to design the experiments. Mathematical models are developed for combustion parameters (Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and peak cylinder pressure (Pmax)), performance parameter brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and emission parameters (CO, NO x , unburnt HC and smoke) using regression techniques. These regression equations are further utilized for simultaneous optimization of combustion (BSFC, Pmax), performance (BTE) and emission (CO, NO x , HC, smoke) parameters. As the objective is to maximize BTE and minimize BSFC, Pmax, CO, NO x , HC, smoke, a multiobjective optimization problem is formulated. Nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II is used in predicting the Pareto optimal sets of solution. Experiments are performed at suitable optimal solutions for predicting the combustion, performance and emission parameters to check the adequacy of the proposed model. The Pareto optimal sets of solution can be used as guidelines for the end users to select optimal combination of engine output and emission parameters depending upon their own requirements.

Toward microfluidic sperm refinement: continuous flow label-free analysis and sorting of sperm cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Wagenaar, B.; Dekker, Stefan; van den Berg, Albert; Segerink, Loes Irene

2015-01-01

This manuscript reports upon the development of a microfluidic setup to detect and sort sperm cells from polystyrene beads label-free and non-invasively. Detection is performed by impedance analysis. When sperm cells passed the microelectrodes, the recorded impedance (19.6 ± 5.7 Ω) was higher

The effects of working memory on brain-computer interface performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprague, Samantha A; McBee, Matthew T; Sellers, Eric W

2016-02-01

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the relationship between working memory and BCI performance. Participants took part in two separate sessions. The first session consisted of three computerized tasks. The List Sorting Working Memory Task was used to measure working memory, the Picture Vocabulary Test was used to measure general intelligence, and the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test was used to measure executive function, specifically cognitive flexibility. The second session consisted of a P300-based BCI copy-spelling task. The results indicate that both working memory and general intelligence are significant predictors of BCI performance. This suggests that working memory training could be used to improve performance on a BCI task. Working memory training may help to reduce a portion of the individual differences that exist in BCI performance allowing for a wider range of users to successfully operate the BCI system as well as increase the BCI performance of current users. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Parallel Modular Biomimetic Cilia Sorting Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James G. H. Whiting

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The aquatic unicellular organism Paramecium caudatum uses cilia to swim around its environment and to graze on food particles and bacteria. Paramecia use waves of ciliary beating for locomotion, intake of food particles and sensing. There is some evidence that Paramecia pre-sort food particles by discarding larger particles, but intake the particles matching their mouth cavity. Most prior attempts to mimic cilia-based manipulation merely mimicked the overall action rather than the beating of cilia. The majority of massive-parallel actuators are controlled by a central computer; however, a distributed control would be far more true-to-life. We propose and test a distributed parallel cilia platform where each actuating unit is autonomous, yet exchanging information with its closest neighboring units. The units are arranged in a hexagonal array. Each unit is a tileable circuit board, with a microprocessor, color-based object sensor and servo-actuated biomimetic cilia actuator. Localized synchronous communication between cilia allowed for the emergence of coordinated action, moving different colored objects together. The coordinated beating action was capable of moving objects up to 4 cm/s at its highest beating frequency; however, objects were moved at a speed proportional to the beat frequency. Using the local communication, we were able to detect the shape of objects and rotating an object using edge detection was performed; however, lateral manipulation using shape information was unsuccessful.

Magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of secondary polyolefins from waste

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rem, P.C.; Di Maio, F.; Hu, B.; Houzeaux, G.; Baltes, L.; Tierean, M.

2012-01-01

The paper presents the researches made on the FP7 project „Magnetic Sorting and Ultrasound Sensor Technologies for Production of High Purity Secondary Polyolefins from Waste” in order to develop a magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) from polymers mixed

Protein Sorting Prediction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Henrik

2017-01-01

and drawbacks of each of these approaches is described through many examples of methods that predict secretion, integration into membranes, or subcellular locations in general. The aim of this chapter is to provide a user-level introduction to the field with a minimum of computational theory.......Many computational methods are available for predicting protein sorting in bacteria. When comparing them, it is important to know that they can be grouped into three fundamentally different approaches: signal-based, global-property-based and homology-based prediction. In this chapter, the strengths...

Anti-Hermitian photodetector facilitating efficient subwavelength photon sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Soo Jin; Kang, Ju-Hyung; Mutlu, Mehmet; Park, Joonsuk; Park, Woosung; Goodson, Kenneth E; Sinclair, Robert; Fan, Shanhui; Kik, Pieter G; Brongersma, Mark L

2018-01-22

The ability to split an incident light beam into separate wavelength bands is central to a diverse set of optical applications, including imaging, biosensing, communication, photocatalysis, and photovoltaics. Entirely new opportunities are currently emerging with the recently demonstrated possibility to spectrally split light at a subwavelength scale with optical antennas. Unfortunately, such small structures offer limited spectral control and are hard to exploit in optoelectronic devices. Here, we overcome both challenges and demonstrate how within a single-layer metafilm one can laterally sort photons of different wavelengths below the free-space diffraction limit and extract a useful photocurrent. This chipscale demonstration of anti-Hermitian coupling between resonant photodetector elements also facilitates near-unity photon-sorting efficiencies, near-unity absorption, and a narrow spectral response (∼ 30 nm) for the different wavelength channels. This work opens up entirely new design paradigms for image sensors and energy harvesting systems in which the active elements both sort and detect photons.

Particle migration and sorting in microbubble streaming flows

Science.gov (United States)

Thameem, Raqeeb; Hilgenfeldt, Sascha

2016-01-01

Ultrasonic driving of semicylindrical microbubbles generates strong streaming flows that are robust over a wide range of driving frequencies. We show that in microchannels, these streaming flow patterns can be combined with Poiseuille flows to achieve two distinctive, highly tunable methods for size-sensitive sorting and trapping of particles much smaller than the bubble itself. This method allows higher throughput than typical passive sorting techniques, since it does not require the inclusion of device features on the order of the particle size. We propose a simple mechanism, based on channel and flow geometry, which reliably describes and predicts the sorting behavior observed in experiment. It is also shown that an asymptotic theory that incorporates the device geometry and superimposed channel flow accurately models key flow features such as peak speeds and particle trajectories, provided it is appropriately modified to account for 3D effects caused by the axial confinement of the bubble. PMID:26958103

Automated transport and sorting system in a large reference laboratory: part 2. Implementation of the system and performance measures over three years.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawker, Charles D; Roberts, William L; Garr, Susan B; Hamilton, Leslie T; Penrose, John R; Ashwood, Edward R; Weiss, Ronald L

2002-10-01

Our laboratory implemented a major automation system in November 1998. A related report describes a 4-year process of evaluation and planning leading to system installation. This report describes the implementation and performance results over 3 years since the system was placed into use. Project management software was used to track the project. Turnaround times of our top 500 tests before and after automation were measured. We compared the rate of hiring of employees and the billed unit per employee ratio before and after automation by use of linear regression analysis. Finally, we analyzed the financial contribution of the project through an analysis of return on investment. Since implementation, the volume of work transported and sorted has grown to >15,000 new tubes and >25,000 total tubes per day. Median turnaround time has decreased by an estimated 7 h, and turnaround time at the 95th percentile has decreased by 12 h. Lost specimens have decreased by 58%. A comparison of pre- and post-implementation hiring rates of employees estimated a savings of 33.6 employees, whereas a similar comparison of ratios of billed units per employee estimated a savings of 49.1 employees. Using the higher figure, we estimated that the $4.02 million cost of the project would be paid off approximately 4.9 years subsequent to placing the system into daily use. The overall automation project implemented in our laboratory has contributed considerably to improvement of key performance measures and has met our original project objectives.

Dynamic colloidal sorting on a magnetic bubble lattice

Science.gov (United States)

Tierno, Pietro; Soba, Alejandro; Johansen, Tom H.; Sagués, Francesc

2008-11-01

We use a uniaxial garnet film with a magnetic bubble lattice to sort paramagnetic colloidal particles with different diameters, i.e., 1.0 and 2.8μm. We apply an external magnetic field which precesses around an axis normal to the film with a frequency Ω =62.8s-1 and intensity 3120A/m bubbles while the others are transported through the array. We complement the experimental measurements with numerical simulations to explore the sorting capability for particles with different magnetic moments.

Peningkatan Prestasi Belajar Pendidikan Agama Islam Melalui Penerapan Card Sort Learning

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Nur Fadilah

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Appropriate learning methods should be applied in order to maximize the students’ ability during learning activities. The purpose of this study is to determine the improvement of learning achievement of Islamic Religious Education (PAI through the application of card sort learning method. Action study conducted on PAI learning. The material of this learning is to  understand the provision of sholat of fourth graders of Gunungsari State Elementary School 2 Kaliori Sub district Rembang District Lesson Year 2015/2016. The indicator of successful learning in this research is 75%. The results showed that the percentage of learning mastery at the pre cycle stage was 10.7%, 67.9% in the first cycle, and in the second cycle reached 92.9%. The average score of students' test results also increased significantly, ie the pre cycle stage was 58.8, the first cycle was 72.4, and in the second cycle reached 78.9. This means, through the implementation of card sort learning methode can improve student learning achievement on PAI learning material understanding the provision of sholat.  lAbstrak Metode pembelajaran yang tepat harus diterapkan untuk memaksimalkan kemampuan siswa selama kegiatan pembelajaran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui peningkatan prestasi belajar Pendidikan Agama Islam (PAI melalui penerapan metode card sort. Studi tindakan (action research dilakukan pada pembelajaran PAI materi mengenai rukun sholat siswa kelas IV Sekolah Dasar Negeri Gunungsari 2 Kecamatan Kaliori Kabupaten Rembang Tahun Pelajaran 2015/2016. Indikator eHasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa persentase ketuntasan belajar pada tahap pra siklus sebesar 10,7%, pada siklus I sebesar 67,9%, dan pada siklus II mencapai 92,9%. Nilai rata-rata hasil tes siswa juga mengalami peningkatan yang signifikan, yaitu para tahap pra siklus sebesar 58,8, siklus I sebesar 72,4, dan pada siklus II naik menjadi 78,9. Hal ini berarti, melalui penerapan card sort learning dapat

Radiation effects on the species-specific cell sorting-out of the cellular slime molds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satow, Takashi

1976-01-01

The effects of gamma-rays irradiation on the development and the species-specific cell sorting-out of the cellular slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum, were investigated. The interphase amoebae of the organism showed extremely resistant to 60 Co gamma-rays. The percentage of non-stained cells estimated by dye staining method was more than 90% at the dose of 270 kR. The amoebae irradiated at 270 kR performed the development similar in the most respects to that of the un-irradiated amoebae except that a little portion of the fruiting bodies were abnormal and that the appearance of aggregates and slugs delayed 3 hrs. The ability of the species-specific cell sorting-out was not affected by gamma-rays irradiation at 270 kR. (auth.)

Pre-accretional sorting of grains in the outer solar nebula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wozniakiewicz, P. J.; Bradley, J. P.; Ishii, H. A.; Price, M. C.; Brownlee, D. E.

2013-01-01

Despite their micrometer-scale dimensions and nanogram masses, chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs) are an important class of extraterrestrial material since their properties are consistent with a cometary origin and they show no evidence of significant post-accretional parent body alteration. Consequently, they can provide information about grain accretion in the comet-forming region of the outer solar nebula. We have previously reported our comparative study of the sizes and size distributions of crystalline silicate and sulfide grains in CP IDPs, in which we found these components exhibit a size-density relationship consistent with having been sorted together prior to accretion. Here we extend our data set and include GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfide), the most abundant amorphous silicate phase observed in CP IDPs. We find that while the silicate and sulfide sorting trend previously observed is maintained, the GEMS size data do not exhibit any clear relationship to these crystalline components. Therefore, GEMS do not appear to have been sorted with the silicate and sulfide crystals. The disparate sorting trends observed in GEMS and the crystalline grains in CP IDPs present an interesting challenge for modeling early transport and accretion processes. They may indicate that several sorting mechanisms operated on these CP IDP components, or alternatively, they may simply be a reflection of different source environments.

Automatic Color Sorting System for Hardwood Edge-Glued Panel Parts

Science.gov (United States)

Richard W. Conners; D.Earl Kline; Philip A. Araman

1996-01-01

The color sorting of edge-glued panel parts is becoming more important in the manufacture of hardwood products. Consumers, while admiring the natural appearance of hardwoods, do not like excessive color variation across product surfaces. Color uniformity is particularly important today because of the popularity of lightly stained products. Unfortunately, color sorting...

Accurately tracking single-cell movement trajectories in microfluidic cell sorting devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Jenny; Frohberg, Nicholas J; Zhou, Enlu; Sulchek, Todd; Qiu, Peng

2018-01-01

Microfluidics are routinely used to study cellular properties, including the efficient quantification of single-cell biomechanics and label-free cell sorting based on the biomechanical properties, such as elasticity, viscosity, stiffness, and adhesion. Both quantification and sorting applications require optimal design of the microfluidic devices and mathematical modeling of the interactions between cells, fluid, and the channel of the device. As a first step toward building such a mathematical model, we collected video recordings of cells moving through a ridged microfluidic channel designed to compress and redirect cells according to cell biomechanics. We developed an efficient algorithm that automatically and accurately tracked the cell trajectories in the recordings. We tested the algorithm on recordings of cells with different stiffness, and showed the correlation between cell stiffness and the tracked trajectories. Moreover, the tracking algorithm successfully picked up subtle differences of cell motion when passing through consecutive ridges. The algorithm for accurately tracking cell trajectories paves the way for future efforts of modeling the flow, forces, and dynamics of cell properties in microfluidics applications.

Accurately tracking single-cell movement trajectories in microfluidic cell sorting devices.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny Jeong

Full Text Available Microfluidics are routinely used to study cellular properties, including the efficient quantification of single-cell biomechanics and label-free cell sorting based on the biomechanical properties, such as elasticity, viscosity, stiffness, and adhesion. Both quantification and sorting applications require optimal design of the microfluidic devices and mathematical modeling of the interactions between cells, fluid, and the channel of the device. As a first step toward building such a mathematical model, we collected video recordings of cells moving through a ridged microfluidic channel designed to compress and redirect cells according to cell biomechanics. We developed an efficient algorithm that automatically and accurately tracked the cell trajectories in the recordings. We tested the algorithm on recordings of cells with different stiffness, and showed the correlation between cell stiffness and the tracked trajectories. Moreover, the tracking algorithm successfully picked up subtle differences of cell motion when passing through consecutive ridges. The algorithm for accurately tracking cell trajectories paves the way for future efforts of modeling the flow, forces, and dynamics of cell properties in microfluidics applications.

Apportioning bacterial carbon source utilization in soil using 14 C isotope analysis of FISH-targeted bacterial populations sorted by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS): 14 C-FISH-FACS.

Science.gov (United States)

Gougoulias, Christos; Meade, Andrew; Shaw, Liz J

2018-02-19

An unresolved need in microbial ecology is methodology to enable quantitative analysis of in situ microbial substrate carbon use at the population level. Here, we evaluated if a novel combination of radiocarbon-labelled substrate tracing, fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to sort the FISH-targeted population for quantification of incorporated radioactivity ( 14 C-FISH-FACS) can address this need. Our test scenario used FISH probe PSE1284 targeting Pseudomonas spp. (and some Burkholderia spp.) and salicylic acid added to rhizosphere soil. We examined salicylic acid- 14 C fate (mineralized, cell-incorporated, extractable and non-extractable) and mass balance (0-24 h) and show that the PSE1284 population captured ∼ 50% of the Nycodenz extracted biomass 14 C. Analysis of the taxonomic distribution of the salicylic acid biodegradation trait suggested that PSE1284 population success was not due to conservation of this trait but due to competitiveness for the added carbon. Adding 50KBq of 14 C sample -1 enabled detection of 14 C in the sorted population at ∼ 60-600 times background; a sensitivity which demonstrates potential extension to analysis of rarer/less active populations. Given its sensitivity and compatibility with obtaining a C mass balance, 14 C-FISH-FACS allows quantitative dissection of C flow within the microbial biomass that has hitherto not been achieved. © 2018 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Quantum lower bound for sorting

OpenAIRE

Shi, Yaoyun

2000-01-01

We prove that \\Omega(n log(n)) comparisons are necessary for any quantum algorithm that sorts n numbers with high success probability and uses only comparisons. If no error is allowed, at least 0.110nlog_2(n) - 0.067n + O(1) comparisons must be made. The previous known lower bound is \\Omega(n).

Towards understanding and managing the learning process in mail sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Berglund, M; Karltun, A

2012-01-01

This paper was based on case study research at the Swedish Mail Service Division and it addresses learning time to sort mail at new districts and means to support the learning process on an individual as well as organizational level. The study population consisted of 46 postmen and one team leader in the Swedish Mail Service Division. Data were collected through measurements of time for mail sorting, interviews and a focus group. The study showed that learning to sort mail was a much more complex process and took more time than expected by management. Means to support the learning process included clarification of the relationship between sorting and the topology of the district, a good work environment, increased support from colleagues and management, and a thorough introduction for new postmen. The identified means to support the learning process require an integration of human, technological and organizational aspects. The study further showed that increased operations flexibility cannot be reinforced without a systems perspective and thorough knowledge about real work activities and that ergonomists can aid businesses to acquire this knowledge.

PACMan to Help Sort Hubble Proposals

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-04-01

Every year, astronomers submit over a thousand proposals requesting time on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Currently, humans must sort through each of these proposals by hand before sending them off for review. Could this burden be shifted to computers?A Problem of VolumeAstronomer Molly Peeples gathered stats on the HST submissions sent in last week for the upcoming HST Cycle 25 (the deadline was Friday night), relative to previous years. This years proposal round broke the record, with over 1200 proposals submitted in total for Cycle 25. [Molly Peeples]Each proposal cycle for HST time attracts on the order of 1100 proposals accounting for far more HST time than is available. The proposals are therefore carefully reviewed by around 150 international members of the astronomy community during a six-month process to select those with the highest scientific merit.Ideally, each proposal will be read by reviewers that have scientific expertise relevant to the proposal topic: if a proposal requests HST time to study star formation, for instance, then the reviewers assigned to it should have research expertise in star formation.How does this matching of proposals to reviewers occur? The current method relies on self-reported categorization of the submitted proposals. This is unreliable, however; proposals are often mis-categorized by submitters due to misunderstanding or ambiguous cases.As a result, the Science Policies Group at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) which oversees the review of HST proposals must go through each of the proposals by hand and re-categorize them. The proposals are then matched to reviewers with self-declared expertise in the same category.With the number of HST proposals on the rise and the expectation that the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will elicit even more proposals for time than Hubble scientists at STScI and NASA are now asking: could the human hours necessary for this task be spared? Could a computer program

Efficient Parallel Sorting for Migrating Birds Optimization When Solving Machine-Part Cell Formation Problems

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Ricardo Soto

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Machine-Part Cell Formation Problem (MPCFP is a NP-Hard optimization problem that consists in grouping machines and parts in a set of cells, so that each cell can operate independently and the intercell movements are minimized. This problem has largely been tackled in the literature by using different techniques ranging from classic methods such as linear programming to more modern nature-inspired metaheuristics. In this paper, we present an efficient parallel version of the Migrating Birds Optimization metaheuristic for solving the MPCFP. Migrating Birds Optimization is a population metaheuristic based on the V-Flight formation of the migrating birds, which is proven to be an effective formation in energy saving. This approach is enhanced by the smart incorporation of parallel procedures that notably improve performance of the several sorting processes performed by the metaheuristic. We perform computational experiments on 1080 benchmarks resulting from the combination of 90 well-known MPCFP instances with 12 sorting configurations with and without threads. We illustrate promising results where the proposal is able to reach the global optimum in all instances, while the solving time with respect to a nonparallel approach is notably reduced.

The Role of the Clathrin Adaptor AP-1: Polarized Sorting and Beyond

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Fubito Nakatsu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The selective transport of proteins or lipids by vesicular transport is a fundamental process supporting cellular physiology. The budding process involves cargo sorting and vesicle formation at the donor membrane and constitutes an important process in vesicular transport. This process is particularly important for the polarized sorting in epithelial cells, in which the cargo molecules need to be selectively sorted and transported to two distinct destinations, the apical or basolateral plasma membrane. Adaptor protein (AP-1, a member of the AP complex family, which includes the ubiquitously expressed AP-1A and the epithelium-specific AP-1B, regulates polarized sorting at the trans-Golgi network and/or at the recycling endosomes. A growing body of evidence, especially from studies using model organisms and animals, demonstrates that the AP-1-mediated polarized sorting supports the development and physiology of multi-cellular units as functional organs and tissues (e.g., cell fate determination, inflammation and gut immune homeostasis. Furthermore, a possible involvement of AP-1B in the pathogenesis of human diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and cancer, is now becoming evident. These data highlight the significant contribution of AP-1 complexes to the physiology of multicellular organisms, as master regulators of polarized sorting in epithelial cells.

Combining magnetic sorting of mother cells and fluctuation tests to analyze genome instability during mitotic cell aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Melissa N; Maxwell, Patrick H

2014-10-16

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been an excellent model system for examining mechanisms and consequences of genome instability. Information gained from this yeast model is relevant to many organisms, including humans, since DNA repair and DNA damage response factors are well conserved across diverse species. However, S. cerevisiae has not yet been used to fully address whether the rate of accumulating mutations changes with increasing replicative (mitotic) age due to technical constraints. For instance, measurements of yeast replicative lifespan through micromanipulation involve very small populations of cells, which prohibit detection of rare mutations. Genetic methods to enrich for mother cells in populations by inducing death of daughter cells have been developed, but population sizes are still limited by the frequency with which random mutations that compromise the selection systems occur. The current protocol takes advantage of magnetic sorting of surface-labeled yeast mother cells to obtain large enough populations of aging mother cells to quantify rare mutations through phenotypic selections. Mutation rates, measured through fluctuation tests, and mutation frequencies are first established for young cells and used to predict the frequency of mutations in mother cells of various replicative ages. Mutation frequencies are then determined for sorted mother cells, and the age of the mother cells is determined using flow cytometry by staining with a fluorescent reagent that detects bud scars formed on their cell surfaces during cell division. Comparison of predicted mutation frequencies based on the number of cell divisions to the frequencies experimentally observed for mother cells of a given replicative age can then identify whether there are age-related changes in the rate of accumulating mutations. Variations of this basic protocol provide the means to investigate the influence of alterations in specific gene functions or specific environmental conditions on

Sorting on the Used-Car Market After the Volkswagen Emission Scandal

OpenAIRE

Strittmatter, Anthony; Lechner, Michael

2017-01-01

The disclosure of the VW emission manipulation scandal caused a quasi-experimental market shock in the observable quality of VW diesel vehicles. We consider a classical model for adverse selection and sorting to derive an empirically testable hypothesis about the impact of observable quality on the supply of used cars. We test the hypothesis with data collected from an online car selling platform which reflects about 50% of the German used-car market. The empirical approach is based on a cond...

Parallel deposition, sorting, and reordering methods in the Hybrid Ordered Plasma Simulation (HOPS) code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, D.V.; Shumaker, D.E.

1993-01-01

From a computational standpoint, particle simulation calculations for plasmas have not adapted well to the transitions from scalar to vector processing nor from serial to parallel environments. They have suffered from inordinate and excessive accessing of computer memory and have been hobbled by relatively inefficient gather-scatter constructs resulting from the use of indirect indexing. Lastly, the many-to-one mapping characteristic of the deposition phase has made it difficult to perform this in parallel. The authors' code sorts and reorders the particles in a spatial order. This allows them to greatly reduce the memory references, to run in directly indexed vector mode, and to employ domain decomposition to achieve parallelization. In this hybrid simulation the electrons are modeled as a fluid and the field equations solved are obtained from the electron momentum equation together with the pre-Maxwell equations (displacement current neglected). Either zero or finite electron mass can be used in the electron model. The resulting field equations are solved with an iteratively explicit procedure which is thus trivial to parallelize. Likewise, the field interpolations and the particle pushing is simple to parallelize. The deposition, sorting, and reordering phases are less simple and it is for these that the authors present detailed algorithms. They have now successfully tested the parallel version of HOPS in serial mode and it is now being readied for parallel execution on the Cray C-90. They will then port HOPS to a massively parallel computer, in the next year

The EARP Complex and Its Interactor EIPR-1 Are Required for Cargo Sorting to Dense-Core Vesicles.

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Irini Topalidou

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The dense-core vesicle is a secretory organelle that mediates the regulated release of peptide hormones, growth factors, and biogenic amines. Dense-core vesicles originate from the trans-Golgi of neurons and neuroendocrine cells, but it is unclear how this specialized organelle is formed and acquires its specific cargos. To identify proteins that act in dense-core vesicle biogenesis, we performed a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans for mutants defective in dense-core vesicle function. We previously reported the identification of two conserved proteins that interact with the small GTPase RAB-2 to control normal dense-core vesicle cargo-sorting. Here we identify several additional conserved factors important for dense-core vesicle cargo sorting: the WD40 domain protein EIPR-1 and the endosome-associated recycling protein (EARP complex. By assaying behavior and the trafficking of dense-core vesicle cargos, we show that mutants that lack EIPR-1 or EARP have defects in dense-core vesicle cargo-sorting similar to those of mutants in the RAB-2 pathway. Genetic epistasis data indicate that RAB-2, EIPR-1 and EARP function in a common pathway. In addition, using a proteomic approach in rat insulinoma cells, we show that EIPR-1 physically interacts with the EARP complex. Our data suggest that EIPR-1 is a new interactor of the EARP complex and that dense-core vesicle cargo sorting depends on the EARP-dependent trafficking of cargo through an endosomal sorting compartment.

Environmental species sorting dominates forest-bird community assembly across scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Özkan, Korhan; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Jeppesen, Erik

2013-01-01

Environmental species sorting and dispersal are seen as key factors in community assembly, but their relative importance and scale dependence remain uncertain, as the extent to which communities are consistently assembled throughout their biomes. To address these issues, we analysed bird metacommunity structure in a 1200-km(2) forested landscape (Istranca Forests) in Turkish Thrace at the margin of the Western Palaearctic (WP) temperate-forest biome. First, we used spatial regressions and Mantel tests to assess the relative importance of environmental and spatial factors as drivers of local species richness and composition within the metacommunity. Second, we analysed species' abundance-occupancy relationship across the metacommunity and used null models to assess whether occupancy is determined by species' environmental niches. Third, we used generalized linear models to test for links between species' metacommunity-wide occupancy and their broader WP regional populations and assessed whether these links are consistent with environmental species sorting. There was strong environmental control on local species richness and composition patterns within the metacommunity, but non-environmental spatial factors had also an important joint role. Null model analyses on randomized communities showed that species' occupancy across the metacommunity was strongly determined by species' environmental niches, with occupancy being related to niche position marginality. Species' metacommunity-wide occupancy correlated with their local abundance as well as with their range size and total abundance for the whole WP, suggesting that the same assembly mechanisms act consistently across local to regional scales. A species specialization index that was estimated by bird species' habitat use across France, incorporating both niche position and breadth, was significantly related to species' occupancy and abundance at both metacommunity and WP regional scales. Hence, the same niche

Efficient Out of Core Sorting Algorithms for the Parallel Disks Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kundeti, Vamsi; Rajasekaran, Sanguthevar

2011-11-01

In this paper we present efficient algorithms for sorting on the Parallel Disks Model (PDM). Numerous asymptotically optimal algorithms have been proposed in the literature. However many of these merge based algorithms have large underlying constants in the time bounds, because they suffer from the lack of read parallelism on PDM. The irregular consumption of the runs during the merge affects the read parallelism and contributes to the increased sorting time. In this paper we first introduce a novel idea called the dirty sequence accumulation that improves the read parallelism. Secondly, we show analytically that this idea can reduce the number of parallel I/O's required to sort the input close to the lower bound of [Formula: see text]. We experimentally verify our dirty sequence idea with the standard R-Way merge and show that our idea can reduce the number of parallel I/Os to sort on PDM significantly.

UNIFICATION OF PROCESSES OF SORTING OUT OF DESTROYED CONSTRUCTION OBJECTS

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SHATOV S. V.

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Summary. Problem statement. Technogenic catastrophes, failures or natural calamities, result in destruction of build objects. Under the obstructions of destructions can be victims. The most widespread technogenic failure is explosions of gas. The structure of obstructions changes and depends on parameters and direction of explosion, firstly its size and location of wreckages. Sorting out of obstructions is carried out with machines and mechanisms which do not meet the requirements of these works, that predetermines of carrying out of rescue or restoration works on imperfect scheme , especially on the initial stages, and it increases terms and labour intensiveness of their conduct. Development technological solution is needed for the effective sorting out of destructions of construction objects. Purpose. Development of unification solution on the improvement of technological processes of sorting out of destructions of buildings and constructions. Conclusion. The analysis of experience of works shows on sorting out of the destroyed construction objects, show that they are carried out on imperfect scheme, which do not take into account character of destruction of objects and are based on the use of construction machines which do not meet the requirements of these processes, and lead to considerable resource losses. Developed unified scheme of sorting out of the destroyed construction objects depending on character of their destruction and possibility of line of works, and also with the use of build machines with a multipurpose equipment, provide the increase of efficiency of carrying out of rescue and construction works.

An Efficient Hardware Circuit for Spike Sorting Based on Competitive Learning Networks

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Huan-Yuan Chen

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study aims to present an effective VLSI circuit for multi-channel spike sorting. The circuit supports the spike detection, feature extraction and classification operations. The detection circuit is implemented in accordance with the nonlinear energy operator algorithm. Both the peak detection and area computation operations are adopted for the realization of the hardware architecture for feature extraction. The resulting feature vectors are classified by a circuit for competitive learning (CL neural networks. The CL circuit supports both online training and classification. In the proposed architecture, all the channels share the same detection, feature extraction, learning and classification circuits for a low area cost hardware implementation. The clock-gating technique is also employed for reducing the power dissipation. To evaluate the performance of the architecture, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC implementation is presented. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed circuit exhibits the advantages of a low chip area, a low power dissipation and a high classification success rate for spike sorting.

An Efficient Hardware Circuit for Spike Sorting Based on Competitive Learning Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huan-Yuan; Chen, Chih-Chang

2017-01-01

This study aims to present an effective VLSI circuit for multi-channel spike sorting. The circuit supports the spike detection, feature extraction and classification operations. The detection circuit is implemented in accordance with the nonlinear energy operator algorithm. Both the peak detection and area computation operations are adopted for the realization of the hardware architecture for feature extraction. The resulting feature vectors are classified by a circuit for competitive learning (CL) neural networks. The CL circuit supports both online training and classification. In the proposed architecture, all the channels share the same detection, feature extraction, learning and classification circuits for a low area cost hardware implementation. The clock-gating technique is also employed for reducing the power dissipation. To evaluate the performance of the architecture, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) implementation is presented. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed circuit exhibits the advantages of a low chip area, a low power dissipation and a high classification success rate for spike sorting. PMID:28956859

Buoyancy-activated cell sorting using targeted biotinylated albumin microbubbles.

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Yu-Ren Liou

Full Text Available Cell analysis often requires the isolation of certain cell types. Various isolation methods have been applied to cell sorting, including fluorescence-activated cell sorting and magnetic-activated cell sorting. However, these conventional approaches involve exerting mechanical forces on the cells, thus risking cell damage. In this study we applied a novel isolation method called buoyancy-activated cell sorting, which involves using biotinylated albumin microbubbles (biotin-MBs conjugated with antibodies (i.e., targeted biotin-MBs. Albumin MBs are widely used as contrast agents in ultrasound imaging due to their good biocompatibility and stability. For conjugating antibodies, biotin is conjugated onto the albumin MB shell via covalent bonds and the biotinylated antibodies are conjugated using an avidin-biotin system. The albumin microbubbles had a mean diameter of 2 μm with a polydispersity index of 0.16. For cell separation, the MDA-MB-231 cells are incubated with the targeted biotin-MBs conjugated with anti-CD44 for 10 min, centrifuged at 10 g for 1 min, and then allowed 1 hour at 4 °C for separation. The results indicate that targeted biotin-MBs conjugated with anti-CD44 antibodies can be used to separate MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells; more than 90% of the cells were collected in the MB layer when the ratio of the MBs to cells was higher than 70:1. Furthermore, we found that the separating efficiency was higher for targeted biotin-MBs than for targeted avidin-incorporated albumin MBs (avidin-MBs, which is the most common way to make targeted albumin MBs. We also demonstrated that the recovery rate of targeted biotin-MBs was up to 88% and the sorting purity was higher than 84% for a a heterogenous cell population containing MDA-MB-231 cells (CD44(+ and MDA-MB-453 cells (CD44-, which are classified as basal-like breast cancer cells and luminal breast cancer cells, respectively. Knowing that the CD44(+ is a commonly used cancer

Chromosome isolation by flow sorting in Aegilops umbellulata and Ae. comosa and their allotetraploid hybrids Ae. biuncialis and Ae. geniculata.

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István Molnár

Full Text Available This study evaluates the potential of flow cytometry for chromosome sorting in two wild diploid wheats Aegilops umbellulata and Ae. comosa and their natural allotetraploid hybrids Ae. biuncialis and Ae. geniculata. Flow karyotypes obtained after the analysis of DAPI-stained chromosomes were characterized and content of chromosome peaks was determined. Peaks of chromosome 1U could be discriminated in flow karyotypes of Ae. umbellulata and Ae. biuncialis and the chromosome could be sorted with purities exceeding 95%. The remaining chromosomes formed composite peaks and could be sorted in groups of two to four. Twenty four wheat SSR markers were tested for their position on chromosomes of Ae. umbellulata and Ae. comosa using PCR on DNA amplified from flow-sorted chromosomes and genomic DNA of wheat-Ae. geniculata addition lines, respectively. Six SSR markers were located on particular Aegilops chromosomes using sorted chromosomes, thus confirming the usefulness of this approach for physical mapping. The SSR markers are suitable for marker assisted selection of wheat-Aegilops introgression lines. The results obtained in this work provide new opportunities for dissecting genomes of wild relatives of wheat with the aim to assist in alien gene transfer and discovery of novel genes for wheat improvement.

Comparison Of Hybrid Sorting Algorithms Implemented On Different Parallel Hardware Platforms

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Dominik Zurek

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Sorting is a common problem in computer science. There are lot of well-known sorting algorithms created for sequential execution on a single processor. Recently, hardware platforms enable to create wide parallel algorithms. We have standard processors consist of multiple cores and hardware accelerators like GPU. The graphic cards with their parallel architecture give new possibility to speed up many algorithms. In this paper we describe results of implementation of a few different sorting algorithms on GPU cards and multicore processors. Then hybrid algorithm will be presented which consists of parts executed on both platforms, standard CPU and GPU.

Sorting processes with energy-constrained comparisons*

Science.gov (United States)

Geissmann, Barbara; Penna, Paolo

2018-05-01

We study very simple sorting algorithms based on a probabilistic comparator model. In this model, errors in comparing two elements are due to (1) the energy or effort put in the comparison and (2) the difference between the compared elements. Such algorithms repeatedly compare and swap pairs of randomly chosen elements, and they correspond to natural Markovian processes. The study of these Markov chains reveals an interesting phenomenon. Namely, in several cases, the algorithm that repeatedly compares only adjacent elements is better than the one making arbitrary comparisons: in the long-run, the former algorithm produces sequences that are "better sorted". The analysis of the underlying Markov chain poses interesting questions as the latter algorithm yields a nonreversible chain, and therefore its stationary distribution seems difficult to calculate explicitly. We nevertheless provide bounds on the stationary distributions and on the mixing time of these processes in several restrictions.

Microtechnology for cell manipulation and sorting

CERN Document Server

Tseng, Peter; Carlo, Dino

2017-01-01

This book delves into the recent developments in the microscale and microfluidic technologies that allow manipulation at the single and cell aggregate level. Expert authors review the dominant mechanisms that manipulate and sort biological structures, making this a state-of-the-art overview of conventional cell sorting techniques, the principles of microfluidics, and of microfluidic devices. All chapters highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each technique they discuss, which include magnetic, electrical, optical, acoustic, gravity/sedimentation, inertial, deformability, and aqueous two-phase systems as the dominant mechanisms utilized by microfluidic devices to handle biological samples. Each chapter explains the physics of the mechanism at work, and reviews common geometries and devices to help readers decide the type of style of device required for various applications. This book is appropriate for graduate-level biomedical engineering and analytical chemistry students, as well as engineers and scientist...

Assessing Incorrect Household Waste Sorting in a Medium-Sized Swedish City

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Kamran Rousta

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Source separation is a common method for dealing with the increasing problem of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW in society. The citizens are then responsible for separating waste fractions produced in their home. If the consumers fail to sort the waste according to the source separation scheme, it will lead to an ineffective system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the environmental, economic and social aspects of incorrect waste sorting in a medium sized Swedish city that has established a source separation system. In order to determine the extent to which citizens correctly sort their waste, food waste (black bags and combustible fraction (white bags, were collected randomly from a residential area and categorized in different waste fractions. The results show that approximately 68 wt% of the waste in the white and 29 wt% in the black bags were not sorted correctly. This incorrect sorting accrues over 13 million SEK per year cost for this community. In order to improve the inhabitants’ participation in the waste management system, it is necessary to change different factors such as convenience and easy access to the recycling stations in the local MSW management systems as well as to review current regulation and policy.

Fluence map optimization (FMO) with dose–volume constraints in IMRT using the geometric distance sorting method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lan Yihua; Li Cunhua; Ren Haozheng; Zhang Yong; Min Zhifang

2012-01-01

A new heuristic algorithm based on the so-called geometric distance sorting technique is proposed for solving the fluence map optimization with dose–volume constraints which is one of the most essential tasks for inverse planning in IMRT. The framework of the proposed method is basically an iterative process which begins with a simple linear constrained quadratic optimization model without considering any dose–volume constraints, and then the dose constraints for the voxels violating the dose–volume constraints are gradually added into the quadratic optimization model step by step until all the dose–volume constraints are satisfied. In each iteration step, an interior point method is adopted to solve each new linear constrained quadratic programming. For choosing the proper candidate voxels for the current dose constraint adding, a so-called geometric distance defined in the transformed standard quadratic form of the fluence map optimization model was used to guide the selection of the voxels. The new geometric distance sorting technique can mostly reduce the unexpected increase of the objective function value caused inevitably by the constraint adding. It can be regarded as an upgrading to the traditional dose sorting technique. The geometry explanation for the proposed method is also given and a proposition is proved to support our heuristic idea. In addition, a smart constraint adding/deleting strategy is designed to ensure a stable iteration convergence. The new algorithm is tested on four cases including head–neck, a prostate, a lung and an oropharyngeal, and compared with the algorithm based on the traditional dose sorting technique. Experimental results showed that the proposed method is more suitable for guiding the selection of new constraints than the traditional dose sorting method, especially for the cases whose target regions are in non-convex shapes. It is a more efficient optimization technique to some extent for choosing constraints than

Fluence map optimization (FMO) with dose-volume constraints in IMRT using the geometric distance sorting method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Yihua; Li, Cunhua; Ren, Haozheng; Zhang, Yong; Min, Zhifang

2012-10-21

A new heuristic algorithm based on the so-called geometric distance sorting technique is proposed for solving the fluence map optimization with dose-volume constraints which is one of the most essential tasks for inverse planning in IMRT. The framework of the proposed method is basically an iterative process which begins with a simple linear constrained quadratic optimization model without considering any dose-volume constraints, and then the dose constraints for the voxels violating the dose-volume constraints are gradually added into the quadratic optimization model step by step until all the dose-volume constraints are satisfied. In each iteration step, an interior point method is adopted to solve each new linear constrained quadratic programming. For choosing the proper candidate voxels for the current dose constraint adding, a so-called geometric distance defined in the transformed standard quadratic form of the fluence map optimization model was used to guide the selection of the voxels. The new geometric distance sorting technique can mostly reduce the unexpected increase of the objective function value caused inevitably by the constraint adding. It can be regarded as an upgrading to the traditional dose sorting technique. The geometry explanation for the proposed method is also given and a proposition is proved to support our heuristic idea. In addition, a smart constraint adding/deleting strategy is designed to ensure a stable iteration convergence. The new algorithm is tested on four cases including head-neck, a prostate, a lung and an oropharyngeal, and compared with the algorithm based on the traditional dose sorting technique. Experimental results showed that the proposed method is more suitable for guiding the selection of new constraints than the traditional dose sorting method, especially for the cases whose target regions are in non-convex shapes. It is a more efficient optimization technique to some extent for choosing constraints than the dose

Osteometric sorting of skeletal elements from a sample of modern Colombians: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Juan Manuel Guerrero; Hackman, Lucina; Martínez, Wendy; Medina, César Sanabria

2016-03-01

The Colombian armed conflict has been catalogued not only as the longest civil war in the western hemisphere, but also as having one of the highest indexes of missing persons. Among the several challenges faced by forensic practitioners in Colombia, the commingling of human remains has been recognised as one of the most difficult to approach. The method of osteometric sorting described by Byrd and Adams and Byrd (2008) has proven relevant as a powerful tool to aid in the reassociation process of skeletal structures. The aim of this research was to evaluate the three osteometric sorting models developed by Byrd (2008) (paired elements, articulating bone portions and other bone portions) in a sample of modern Colombian individuals. A set of 39 linear measurements was recorded from a sample of 100 individuals (47 females and 53 males aged between 20 and 74 and 18 and 77 years, respectively), which was used to create a reference sample database. A different subset of eight individuals (five females aged between 23 and 48 years, and three males aged between 27 and 43 years) was employed to randomly create six small-scale commingled assemblages for the purposes of testing the osteometric sorting models. Results demonstrate that this method has significant potential for use in the Colombian forensic context.

Co-assembly of viral envelope glycoproteins regulates their polarized sorting in neurons.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Mattera

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Newly synthesized envelope glycoproteins of neuroinvasive viruses can be sorted in a polarized manner to the somatodendritic and/or axonal domains of neurons. Although critical for transneuronal spread of viruses, the molecular determinants and interregulation of this process are largely unknown. We studied the polarized sorting of the attachment (NiV-G and fusion (NiV-F glycoproteins of Nipah virus (NiV, a paramyxovirus that causes fatal human encephalitis, in rat hippocampal neurons. When expressed individually, NiV-G exhibited a non-polarized distribution, whereas NiV-F was specifically sorted to the somatodendritic domain. Polarized sorting of NiV-F was dependent on interaction of tyrosine-based signals in its cytosolic tail with the clathrin adaptor complex AP-1. Co-expression of NiV-G with NiV-F abolished somatodendritic sorting of NiV-F due to incorporation of NiV-G•NiV-F complexes into axonal transport carriers. We propose that faster biosynthetic transport of unassembled NiV-F allows for its proteolytic activation in the somatodendritic domain prior to association with NiV-G and axonal delivery of NiV-G•NiV-F complexes. Our study reveals how interactions of viral glycoproteins with the host's transport machinery and between themselves regulate their polarized sorting in neurons.

A mower detector to judge soil sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bramlitt, E.T.; Johnson, N.R.

1995-01-01

Thermo Nuclear Services (TNS) has developed a mower detector as an inexpensive and fast means for deciding potential value of soil sorting for cleanup. It is a shielded detector box on wheels pushed over the ground (as a person mows grass) at 30 ft/min with gamma-ray counts recorded every 0.25 sec. It mirror images detection by the TNS transportable sorter system which conveys soil at 30 ft/min and toggles a gate to send soil on separate paths based on counts. The mower detector shows if contamination is variable and suitable for sorting, and by unique calibration sources, it indicates detection sensitivity. The mower detector has been used to characterize some soil at Department of Energy sites in New Jersey and South Carolina

A mower detector to judge soil sorting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bramlitt, E.T.; Johnson, N.R. [Thermo Nuclear Services, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1995-12-31

Thermo Nuclear Services (TNS) has developed a mower detector as an inexpensive and fast means for deciding potential value of soil sorting for cleanup. It is a shielded detector box on wheels pushed over the ground (as a person mows grass) at 30 ft/min with gamma-ray counts recorded every 0.25 sec. It mirror images detection by the TNS transportable sorter system which conveys soil at 30 ft/min and toggles a gate to send soil on separate paths based on counts. The mower detector shows if contamination is variable and suitable for sorting, and by unique calibration sources, it indicates detection sensitivity. The mower detector has been used to characterize some soil at Department of Energy sites in New Jersey and South Carolina.

PENGARUH MODEL PEMBELAJARAN AKTIF TIPE CARD SORT DAN MOTIVASI BELAJAR DALAM MATA KULIAH KETERAMPILAN BERSASTRA KE-SD-AN MAHASISWA PRODI PGSD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidayati Azkiya

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study begins from the problem of low skills learning ability to compose Elementary literature in PGSD departement of Bung Hatta University. It can be seen from the results of  students’ mid semester test, observation, and interviews with faculty to compose literature Skills in elementary course. This study aims to determine the effect of the application of an active learning model type of card sort to compose skills to elementary school's student in PGSD Department and to know the results of learning skills to compose an Elementary course-students after being taught by active learning model type of card sort. This type of research was a Quasi Experimental study. The populations were all students in PGSD department Academic Year 2015/2016.The Data collection techniques in this study used questionnaires of learning motivation and learning skills tests to compose Elementary literature in PGSD. The Data analysis techniques used in this study were  t-test and ANOVA. Based on the findings, we concluded that first learning skills to compose elementary literature students who use active learning model type of card sort was higher than in convenetional than students who used conventional learning either seen as a whole or from high and low learning motivation. Second, there was no interaction between the learning motivation to learn the skills of learning to compose Elementary literature of PGSD students. It means that active learning model type of card sort gave good effect on learning skilss to compose Elementary literature of PGSD students.   

An efficient non-dominated sorting method for evolutionary algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Hongbing; Wang, Qian; Tu, Yi-Cheng; Horstemeyer, Mark F

2008-01-01

We present a new non-dominated sorting algorithm to generate the non-dominated fronts in multi-objective optimization with evolutionary algorithms, particularly the NSGA-II. The non-dominated sorting algorithm used by NSGA-II has a time complexity of O(MN(2)) in generating non-dominated fronts in one generation (iteration) for a population size N and M objective functions. Since generating non-dominated fronts takes the majority of total computational time (excluding the cost of fitness evaluations) of NSGA-II, making this algorithm faster will significantly improve the overall efficiency of NSGA-II and other genetic algorithms using non-dominated sorting. The new non-dominated sorting algorithm proposed in this study reduces the number of redundant comparisons existing in the algorithm of NSGA-II by recording the dominance information among solutions from their first comparisons. By utilizing a new data structure called the dominance tree and the divide-and-conquer mechanism, the new algorithm is faster than NSGA-II for different numbers of objective functions. Although the number of solution comparisons by the proposed algorithm is close to that of NSGA-II when the number of objectives becomes large, the total computational time shows that the proposed algorithm still has better efficiency because of the adoption of the dominance tree structure and the divide-and-conquer mechanism.

Support for designing waste sorting systems: A mini review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousta, Kamran; Ordoñez, Isabel; Bolton, Kim; Dahlén, Lisa

2017-11-01

This article presents a mini review of research aimed at understanding material recovery from municipal solid waste. It focuses on two areas, waste sorting behaviour and collection systems, so that research on the link between these areas could be identified and evaluated. The main results presented and the methods used in the articles are categorised and appraised. The mini review reveals that most of the work that offered design guidelines for waste management systems was based on optimising technical aspects only. In contrast, most of the work that focused on user involvement did not consider developing the technical aspects of the system, but was limited to studies of user behaviour. The only clear consensus among the articles that link user involvement with the technical system is that convenient waste collection infrastructure is crucial for supporting source separation. This mini review reveals that even though the connection between sorting behaviour and technical infrastructure has been explored and described in some articles, there is still a gap when using this knowledge to design waste sorting systems. Future research in this field would benefit from being multidisciplinary and from using complementary methods, so that holistic solutions for material recirculation can be identified. It would be beneficial to actively involve users when developing sorting infrastructures, to be sure to provide a waste management system that will be properly used by them.

6. Algorithms for Sorting and Searching

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 2; Issue 3. Algorithms - Algorithms for Sorting and Searching. R K Shyamasundar. Series Article ... Author Affiliations. R K Shyamasundar1. Computer Science Group, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India ...

Multi-objective optimization of short-term hydrothermal scheduling using non-dominated sorting gravitational search algorithm with chaotic mutation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tian, Hao; Yuan, Xiaohui; Ji, Bin; Chen, Zhihuan

2014-01-01

Highlights: • An improved non-dominated sorting gravitational search algorithm (NSGSA-CM) is proposed. • NSGSA-CM is used to solve the problem of short-term multi-objective hydrothermal scheduling. • We enhance the search capability of NSGSA-CM by chaotic mutation. • New strategies are devised to handle various constraints in NSGSA-CM. • We obtain better compromise solutions with less fuel cost and emissions. - Abstract: This paper proposes a non-dominated sorting gravitational search algorithm with chaotic mutation (NSGSA-CM) to solve short-term economic/environmental hydrothermal scheduling (SEEHTS) problem. The SEEHTS problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem with many equality and inequality constraints. By introducing the concept of non-dominated sorting and crowding distance, NSGSA-CM can optimize two objectives of fuel cost and pollutant emission simultaneously and obtain a set of Pareto optimal solutions in one trial. In order to improve the performance of NSGSA-CM, the paper introduces particle memory character and population social information in velocity update process. And a chaotic mutation is adopted to prevent the premature convergence. Furthermore, NSGSA-CM utilizes an elitism strategy which selects better solutions in parent and offspring populations based on their non-domination rank and crowding distance to update new generations. When dealing with the constraints of the SEEHTS, new strategies without penalty factors are proposed. In order to handle the water dynamic balance and system load balance constraints, this paper uses a combined strategy which adjusts the violation averagely to each decision variable at first and adjusts the rest violation randomly later. Meanwhile, a new symmetrical adjustment strategy by modifying the discharges at current and later interval without breaking water dynamic balance is adopted to handle reservoir storage constraints. To test the performance of the proposed NSGSA

Disease-Causing Mutations in BEST1 Gene Are Associated with Altered Sorting of Bestrophin-1 Protein

Science.gov (United States)

Doumanov, Jordan A.; Zeitz, Christina; Gimenez, Paloma Dominguez; Audo, Isabelle; Krishna, Abhay; Alfano, Giovanna; Diaz, Maria Luz Bellido; Moskova-Doumanova, Veselina; Lancelot, Marie-Elise; Sahel, José-Alain; Nandrot, Emeline F.; Bhattacharya, Shomi S.

2013-01-01

Mutations in BEST1 gene, encoding the bestrophin-1 (Best1) protein are associated with macular dystrophies. Best1 is predominantly expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and is inserted in its basolateral membrane. We investigated the cellular localization in polarized MDCKII cells of disease-associated Best1 mutant proteins to study specific sorting motifs of Best1. Real-time PCR and western blots for endogenous expression of BEST1 in MDCK cells were performed. Best1 mutant constructs were generated using site-directed mutagenesis and transfected in MDCK cells. For protein sorting, confocal microscopy studies, biotinylation assays and statistical methods for quantification of mislocalization were used. Analysis of endogenous expression of BEST1 in MDCK cells revealed the presence of BEST1 transcript but no protein. Confocal microscopy and quantitative analyses indicate that transfected normal human Best1 displays a basolateral localization in MDCK cells, while cell sorting of several Best1 mutants (Y85H, Q96R, L100R, Y227N, Y227E) was altered. In contrast to constitutively active Y227E, constitutively inactive Y227F Best1 mutant localized basolaterally similar to the normal Best1 protein. Our data suggest that at least three basolateral sorting motifs might be implicated in proper Best1 basolateral localization. In addition, non-phosphorylated tyrosine 227 could play a role for basolateral delivery. PMID:23880862

Grain-size sorting in grainflows at the lee side of deltas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleinhans, M.G.

2005-01-01

The sorting of sediment mixtures at the lee slope of deltas (at the angle of repose) is studied with experiments in a narrow, deep flume with subaqueous Gilbert-type deltas using varied flow conditions and different sediment mixtures. Sediment deposition and sorting on the lee slope of the delta

The development and implementation of a dry active waste (DAW) sorting program at Catawba Nuclear Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schulte, J.H.; McNamara, P.N.

1988-01-01

Duke Power Company, like other nuclear utilities, bears a burdensome radwaste disposal cost that has rapidly escalated during recent years. Dry active waste (DAW) represents approximately 85% of the total radioactive waste volume shipped to low-level disposal facilities. Sorting waste with less than detectable radioactivity from waste with detectable radioactivity provides a volume reduction (VR) technique that can save significant radwaste disposal costs and conserve dwindling burial space. This paper presents the development and results of a project that was conducted at Catawba Nuclear Station to determine the volume reduction potential from sorting DAW. Guidelines are given so that other utilities can perform a VR potential study on a low cost basis. Based on the results of the DAW VR study, an overall DAW volume radiation program was initiated at Duke Power Company. This program includes personnel training, drumming techniques, bag tracking and equipment purchases for sorting. This program has been fully implemented at Duke Power Company since January 1, 1988 and preliminary results and savings are given

Trapping, focusing, and sorting of microparticles through bubble streaming

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Cheng; Jalikop, Shreyas; Hilgenfeldt, Sascha

2010-11-01

Ultrasound-driven oscillating microbubbles can set up vigorous steady streaming flows around the bubbles. In contrast to previous work, we make use of the interaction between the bubble streaming and the streaming induced around mobile particles close to the bubble. Our experiment superimposes a unidirectional Poiseuille flow containing a well-mixed suspension of neutrally buoyant particles with the bubble streaming. The particle-size dependence of the particle-bubble interaction selects which particles are transported and which particles are trapped near the bubbles. The sizes selected for can be far smaller than any scale imposed by the device geometry, and the selection mechanism is purely passive. Changing the amplitude and frequency of ultrasound driving, we can further control focusing and sorting of the trapped particles, leading to the emergence of sharply defined monodisperse particle streams within a much wider channel. Optimizing parameters for focusing and sorting are presented. The technique is applicable in important fields like cell sorting and drug delivery.

Modification of the short osmotic resistance test for evaluating the functional integrity of boar spermatozoa Teste de resistência osmótica modificado (sort modificado na avaliação da integridade funcional do espermatozóide de suíno

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.K.F. Nascimento

2001-06-01

Full Text Available Neste trabalho descreve-se a técnica do teste de resistência osmótica modificado (SORT modificado e sua eficiência na avaliação da integridade da membrana do acrossoma do espermatozóide do varrão. Modificaram-se as soluções usadas nos testes de resistência osmótica atuais, eliminando-se também a incubação em solução isosmótica (300 mOsml. Esta foi substituída pela percentagem de NAR das amostras de morfologia espermática.

Magnet sorting algorithms for insertion devices for the Advanced Light Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Humphries, D.; Hoyer, E.; Kincaid, B.; Marks, S.; Schlueter, R.

1994-01-01

Insertion devices for the Advanced Light Source (ALS) incorporate up to 3,000 magnet blocks each for pole energization. In order to minimize field errors, these magnets must be measured, sorted and assigned appropriate locations and orientation in the magnetic structures. Sorting must address multiple objectives, including pole excitation and minimization of integrated multipole fields from minor field components in the magnets. This is equivalent to a combinatorial minimization problem with a large configuration space. Multi-stage sorting algorithms use ordering and pairing schemes in conjunction with other combinatorial methods to solve the minimization problem. This paper discusses objective functions, solution algorithms and results of application to magnet block measurement data

Rapid descriptive sensory methods – Comparison of Free Multiple Sorting, Partial Napping, Napping, Flash Profiling and conventional profiling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dehlholm, Christian; Brockhoff, Per B.; Meinert, Lene

2012-01-01

is a modal restriction of Napping to specific sensory modalities, directing sensation and still allowing a holistic approach to products. The new methods are compared to Flash Profiling, Napping and conventional descriptive sensory profiling. Evaluations are performed by several panels of expert assessors......Two new rapid descriptive sensory evaluation methods are introduced to the field of food sensory evaluation. The first method, free multiple sorting, allows subjects to perform ad libitum free sortings, until they feel that no more relevant dissimilarities among products remain. The second method...... are applied for the graphical validation and comparisons. This allows similar comparisons and is applicable to single-block evaluation designs such as Napping. The partial Napping allows repetitions on multiple sensory modalities, e.g. appearance, taste and mouthfeel, and shows the average...

Faster magnet sorting with a threshold acceptance algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidia, S.; Carr, R.

1995-01-01

We introduce here a new technique for sorting magnets to minimize the field errors in permanent magnet insertion devices. Simulated annealing has been used in this role, but we find the technique of threshold acceptance produces results of equal quality in less computer time. Threshold accepting would be of special value in designing very long insertion devices, such as long free electron lasers (FELs). Our application of threshold acceptance to magnet sorting showed that it converged to equivalently low values of the cost function, but that it converged significantly faster. We present typical cases showing time to convergence for various error tolerances, magnet numbers, and temperature schedules

Faster magnet sorting with a threshold acceptance algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidia, S.

1994-08-01

The authors introduce here a new technique for sorting magnets to minimize the field errors in permanent magnet insertion devices. Simulated annealing has been used in this role, but they find the technique of threshold acceptance produces results of equal quality in less computer time. Threshold accepting would be of special value in designing very long insertion devices, such as long FEL's. Their application of threshold acceptance to magnet sorting showed that it converged to equivalently low values of the cost function, but that it converged significantly faster. They present typical cases showing time to convergence for various error tolerances, magnet numbers, and temperature schedules

The performance testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mayr, A.

1975-01-01

Concerning the time-schedule of reactor performance tests they normally begin when suppliers or constructors have finished construction and made all necessary construction and coordinated tests. If the last-mentioned tests are conducted profoundly, they contribute substantially to a quick and simple carrying-out of the last performance tests and to the general quality of components and systems. At this stage all components of a system should be properly fixed, machinery, instruments and electrical components adjusted and calibrated, all set-points tested, electrical and other supply units in operation or ready to operate and all functions pretested. Just at this stage of the work most of the existing defects and failures of systems can be found. Remembering the fact that the difficulty of operation of complex systems results from detail problems, it is extremely useful to remove all things of this kind as soon as possible, at the latest at this time where it is done easily and normally quickly without influencing start-up-procedures of other systems or even of the total plant. (orig./TK) [de

Optimizing the static-dynamic performance of the body-in-white using a modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm coupled with grey relational analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dengfeng; Cai, Kefang

2018-04-01

This article presents a hybrid method combining a modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (MNSGA-II) with grey relational analysis (GRA) to improve the static-dynamic performance of a body-in-white (BIW). First, an implicit parametric model of the BIW was built using SFE-CONCEPT software, and then the validity of the implicit parametric model was verified by physical testing. Eight shape design variables were defined for BIW beam structures based on the implicit parametric technology. Subsequently, MNSGA-II was used to determine the optimal combination of the design parameters that can improve the bending stiffness, torsion stiffness and low-order natural frequencies of the BIW without considerable increase in the mass. A set of non-dominated solutions was then obtained in the multi-objective optimization design. Finally, the grey entropy theory and GRA were applied to rank all non-dominated solutions from best to worst to determine the best trade-off solution. The comparison between the GRA and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) illustrated the reliability and rationality of GRA. Moreover, the effectiveness of the hybrid method was verified by the optimal results such that the bending stiffness, torsion stiffness, first order bending and first order torsion natural frequency were improved by 5.46%, 9.30%, 7.32% and 5.73%, respectively, with the mass of the BIW increasing by 1.30%.

Addition of tracers into the polypropylene in view of automatic sorting of plastic wastes using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bezati, F.; Froelich, D.; Massardier, V.; Maris, E.

2010-01-01

This study focused on the detection of rare earth oxides, used as tracers for the identification of polymer materials, using XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectrometry. The tests were carried out in a test system device which allows the collection of static measurements of the samples' spectrum through the use of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence technology. A sorting process based on tracers added into the polymer matrix is proposed in order to increase sorting selectivity of polypropylene during end-of-life recycling. Tracers consist of systems formed by one or by several substances dispersed into a material, to add a selective property to it, with the aim of improving the efficiency of sorting and high speed identification. Several samples containing rare earth oxides (Y 2 O 3 , CeO 2 , Nd 2 O 3 , Gd 2 O 3 , Dy 2 O 3 , Er 2 O 3 and Yb 2 O 3 ) in different concentrations were prepared in order to analyse some of the parameters which can influence the detection, such as the concentration of tracers, the acquisition time and the possible overlapping among the tracers. This work shows that by using the XRF test system device, it was possible to detect 5 of the 7 tracers tested for 1 min exposure time and at a concentration level of 1000 ppm. These two parameters will play an important role in the development of an industrial device, which indicates the necessity of further works that needs to be conducted in order to reduce them.

Sorting of pistachio nuts using image processing techniques and an adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. R Abdollahnejad Barough

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Pistachio nut is one of the most important agricultural products of Iran and it is priced due to the quality and type. One of the significant factors of pistachio cost is its type in terms of shell. Filled split pistachio nut has the most quality and is utilized as nuts, while the closed shell type has lower cost, at the same time is economically efficient in food industry such as confectionery. Now, pistachio sorting is performed usually by human and sometimes using electromechanical apparatuses. Classification of pistachio by human is time consuming and is done with an unacceptable accuracy, on the other hand, electromechanical and electro optical apparatuses damages pistachio because the mechanism used in them while separating. So, the need to develop automated systems that could be implemented by intelligent ways is evident to increase the speed and accuracy of classification. Materials and Methods: In this study, 300 samples of pistachios contains 100 Filled split, 100 Filled non-split and 100 split blank nuts ones are used. The training set consisted of 60 samples of each type of opened nuts, closed and empty opened shell nuts a total of 180 samples and the evaluation set consisted of 40 samples of each type of opened shell, closed shell and empty opened shell nuts a total of 120 samples. The principle of this study is implemented in two steps: 1 sample imaging and image processing to extract features 2 fuzzy network design based on the characteristics of data and training. To select useful features from the hypothesis, C4.5 decision tree is used. C4.5 algorithm makes a greedy top to bottom search on the hypothesis, and is made by the question what feature must be at the root of the tree. By the help of statistical methods, extracted features from the images were prioritized and the most appropriate features for classification of training set were selected. The algorithm chooses the best features as their number is minimum

40 CFR 60.8 - Performance tests.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Performance tests. 60.8 Section 60.8... PERFORMANCE FOR NEW STATIONARY SOURCES General Provisions § 60.8 Performance tests. (a) Except as specified in... conduct performance test(s) and furnish the Administrator a written report of the results of such...

New free-release and sorting monitors developed for NPP A-1 decommissioning, Slovakia - 59071

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slavik, Ondrej; Listjak, Martin; Kravar, Kamil; Slaninka, Alojz; Pely, Igor

2012-01-01

A pilot free-release monitoring post with a 600 L container monitor was developed and metrological tested within the 2. stage of NPP A1 decommissioning project. In order to reduce the volume of contaminated soil monitoring a conceptual design of fast sorting loader shovel monitor (loader's spoon) was proposed and tested within the project as well. The free-release monitoring post makes use of a pair of electrically cooled lead shielded semiconductor detectors placed into a mounting rack ensuring measurements in either horizontal (container monitoring) or vertical (drum monitoring) counting geometry. For evaluation of measured HPGe spectra the Canberra -Packard ISOCS detection efficiency calculation code was used. A loader is used to change the measured side of the 600 L container. For metrological certification of this monitor a special prototype test container with 24 rod sources inside a regular grid was necessary to design and to use. The mentioned above vertical counting geometry together with an additional drum rotator ensures standard free release monitoring of materials in 200 l rotating drums. Successful metrological qualification of the both counting geometries at SMU Bratislava showed 20 % accuracy class. A pair of NaI(Tl) detectors and a measurement and navigation frame ensuring loader shovel fixation in counting position are used for the fast sorting monitoring. The navigation of loader and its shovel to the counting geometry should be as fast as possible. The monitored results shall be indicated by a prompt light indication system (apart from storing on HDD). MCNP 5 calculation code was used for assessment of gross gamma 137 Cs detection efficiency. The estimated MDA for a pair of 2'' x 2'' Na(Tl) detectors and 30 s acquisition time is about 90 Bq/kg. However, due to the counting geometry deviations from calculated values the uncertainty of measurements can be relatively high. Hence, the system is applicable for sorting monitoring only. (authors)

Aminopeptidase N is directly sorted to the apical domain in MDCK cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wessels, H P; Hansen, Gert Helge; Fuhrer, C

1990-01-01

In different epithelial cell types, integral membrane proteins appear to follow different sorting pathways to the apical surface. In hepatocytes, several apical proteins were shown to be transported there indirectly via the basolateral membrane, whereas in MDCK cells a direct sorting pathway from...

A polynomial-time algorithm to design push plans for sensorless parts sorting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berg, de M.; Goaoc, X.; van der Stappen, A.F.

2005-01-01

We consider the efficient computation of sequences of push actions that simultaneously orient two different polygons. Our motivation for studying this problem comes from the observation that appropriately oriented parts admit simple sensorless sorting. We study the sorting of two polygonal parts by

Massively Parallel Sort-Merge Joins in Main Memory Multi-Core Database Systems

OpenAIRE

Martina-Cezara Albutiu, Alfons Kemper, Thomas Neumann

2012-01-01

Two emerging hardware trends will dominate the database system technology in the near future: increasing main memory capacities of several TB per server and massively parallel multi-core processing. Many algorithmic and control techniques in current database technology were devised for disk-based systems where I/O dominated the performance. In this work we take a new look at the well-known sort-merge join which, so far, has not been in the focus of research ...

Gender Differences in Sorting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Merlino, Luca Paolo; Parrotta, Pierpaolo; Pozzoli, Dario

and causing the most productive female workers to seek better jobs in more female-friendly firms in which they can pursue small career advancements. Nonetheless, gender differences in promotion persist and are found to be similar in all firms when we focus on large career advancements. These results provide......In this paper, we investigate the sorting of workers in firms to understand gender gaps in labor market outcomes. Using Danish employer-employee matched data, we fiend strong evidence of glass ceilings in certain firms, especially after motherhood, preventing women from climbing the career ladder...

An Evaluation of the Critical Factors Affecting the Efficiency of Some Sorting Techniques

OpenAIRE

Olabiyisi S.O.; Adetunji A.B.; Oyeyinka F.I.

2013-01-01

Sorting allows information or data to be put into a meaningful order. As efficiency is a major concern of computing, data are sorted in order to gain the efficiency in retrieving or searching tasks. The factors affecting the efficiency of shell, Heap, Bubble, Quick and Merge sorting techniques in terms of running time, memory usage and the number of exchanges were investigated. Experiment was conducted for the decision variables generated from algorithms implemented in Java programming and fa...

Image analysis to measure sorting and stratification applied to sand-gravel experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Orrú, C.

2016-01-01

The main objective of this project is to develop new measuring techniques for providing detailed data on sediment sorting suitable for sand-gravel laboratory experiments. Such data will be of aid in obtaining new insights on sorting mechanisms and improving prediction capabilities of morphodynamic

Self-sorting of guests and hard blocks in bisurea-based thermoplastic elastomers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Botterhuis, N.E.; Karthikeyan, S.; Spiering, A.J.H.; Sijbesma, R.P.

2010-01-01

Self-sorting in thermoplastic elastomers was studied using bisurea-based thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) which are known to form hard blocks via hierarchical aggregation of bisurea segments into ribbons and of ribbons into fibers. Self-sorting of different bisurea hard blocks in mixtures of polymers

Spatial sorting promotes the spread of maladaptive hybridization

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Winsor H.; Muhlfeld, Clint C.; Allendorf, Fred W.

2015-01-01

Invasive hybridization is causing loss of biodiversity worldwide. The spread of such introgression can occur even when hybrids have reduced Darwinian fitness, which decreases the frequency of hybrids due to low survival or reproduction through time. This paradox can be partially explained by spatial sorting, where genotypes associated with dispersal increase in frequency at the edge of expansion, fueling further expansion and allowing invasive hybrids to increase in frequency through space rather than time. Furthermore, because all progeny of a hybrid will be hybrids (i.e., will possess genes from both parental taxa), nonnative admixture in invaded populations can increase even when most hybrid progeny do not survive. Broader understanding of spatial sorting is needed to protect native biodiversity.

Dynamic testing in schizophrenia: does training change the construct validity of a test?

Science.gov (United States)

Wiedl, Karl H; Schöttke, Henning; Green, Michael F; Nuechterlein, Keith H

2004-01-01

Dynamic testing typically involves specific interventions for a test to assess the extent to which test performance can be modified, beyond level of baseline (static) performance. This study used a dynamic version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) that is based on cognitive remediation techniques within a test-training-test procedure. From results of previous studies with schizophrenia patients, we concluded that the dynamic and static versions of the WCST should have different construct validity. This hypothesis was tested by examining the patterns of correlations with measures of executive functioning, secondary verbal memory, and verbal intelligence. Results demonstrated a specific construct validity of WCST dynamic (i.e., posttest) scores as an index of problem solving (Tower of Hanoi) and secondary verbal memory and learning (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), whereas the impact of general verbal capacity and selective attention (Verbal IQ, Stroop Test) was reduced. It is concluded that the construct validity of the test changes with dynamic administration and that this difference helps to explain why the dynamic version of the WCST predicts functional outcome better than the static version.

Application of sperm sorting and associated reproductive technology for wildlife management and conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, J K; Steinman, K J; Robeck, T R

2009-01-01

Efforts toward the conservation and captive breeding of wildlife can be enhanced by sperm sorting and associated reproductive technologies such as sperm cryopreservation and artificial insemination (AI). Sex ratio management is of particular significance to species which naturally exist in female-dominated social groups. A bias of the sex ratio towards females of these species will greatly assist in maintaining socially cohesive groups and minimizing male-male aggression. Another application of this technology potentially exists for endangered species, as the preferential production of females can enable propagation of those species at a faster rate. The particular assisted reproductive technology (ART) used in conjunction with sperm sorting for the production of offspring is largely determined by the quality and quantity of spermatozoa following sorting and preservation processes. Regardless of the ART selected, breeding decisions involving sex-sorted spermatozoa should be made in conjunction with appropriate genetic management. Zoological-based research on reproductive physiology and assisted reproduction, including sperm sorting, is being conducted on numerous terrestrial and marine mammals. The wildlife species for which the technology has undergone the most advance is the bottlenose dolphin. AI using sex-sorted fresh or frozen-thawed spermatozoa has become a valuable tool for the genetic and reproductive management of captive bottlenose dolphins with six pre-sexed calves, all of the predetermined sex born to date.

Radiation Response of Cancer Stem-Like Cells From Established Human Cell Lines After Sorting for Surface Markers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Assar, Osama; Muschel, Ruth J.; Mantoni, Tine S.; McKenna, W. Gillies; Brunner, Thomas B.

2009-01-01

Purpose: A subpopulation of cancer stem-like cells (CSLC) is hypothesized to exist in different cancer cell lines and to mediate radioresistance in solid tumors. Methods and Materials: Cells were stained for CSLC markers and sorted (fluorescence-activated cell sorter/magnetic beads) to compare foci and radiosensitivity of phosphorylated histone H2AX at Ser 139 (γ-H2AX) in sorted vs. unsorted populations in eight cell lines from different organs. CSLC properties were examined using anchorage-independent growth and levels of activated Notch1. Validation consisted of testing tumorigenicity and postirradiation enrichment of CSLC in xenograft tumors. Results: The quantity of CSLC was generally in good agreement with primary tumors. CSLC from MDA-MB-231 (breast) and Panc-1 and PSN-1 (both pancreatic) cells had fewer residual γ-H2AX foci than unsorted cells, pointing to radioresistance of CSLC. However, only MDA-MB-231 CSLC were more radioresistant than unsorted cells. Furthermore, MDA-MB-231 CSLC showed enhanced anchorage-independent growth and overexpression of activated Notch1 protein. The expression of cancer stem cell surface markers in the MDA-MB-231 xenograft model was increased after exposure to fractionated radiation. In contrast to PSN-1 cells, a growth advantage for MDA-MB-231 CSLC xenograft tumors was found compared to tumors arising from unsorted cells. Conclusions: CSLC subpopulations showed no general radioresistant phenotype, despite the quantities of CSLC subpopulations shown to correspond relatively well in other reports. Likewise, CSLC characteristics were found in some but not all of the tested cell lines. The reported problems in testing for CSLC in cell lines may be overcome by additional techniques, beyond sorting for markers.

The Methods and Goals of Teaching Sorting Algorithms in Public Education

Science.gov (United States)

Bernát, Péter

2014-01-01

The topic of sorting algorithms is a pleasant subject of informatics education. Not only is it so because the notion of sorting is well known from our everyday life, but also because as an algorithm task, whether we expect naive or practical solutions, it is easy to define and demonstrate. In my paper I will present some of the possible methods…

Mimicking Faraday rotation to sort the orbital angular momentum of light.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wuhong; Qi, Qianqian; Zhou, Jie; Chen, Lixiang

2014-04-18

The efficient separation of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) is essential to both the classical and quantum applications with twisted photons. Here we devise and demonstrate experimentally an efficient method of mimicking the Faraday rotation to sort the OAM based on the OAM-to-polarization coupling effect induced by a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Our device is capable of sorting the OAM of positive and negative numbers, as well as their mixtures. Furthermore, we report the first experimental demonstration to sort optical vortices of noninteger charges. The possibility of working at the photon-count level is also shown using an electron-multiplying CCD camera. Our scheme holds promise for quantum information applications with single-photon entanglement and for high-capacity communication systems with polarization and OAM multiplexing.

Integration through a Card-Sort Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Kris; Ricca, Bernard P.

2015-01-01

Learning to compute integrals via the various techniques of integration (e.g., integration by parts, partial fractions, etc.) is difficult for many students. Here, we look at how students in a college level Calculus II course develop the ability to categorize integrals and the difficulties they encounter using a card sort-resort activity. Analysis…

A note on sorting buffrs offline

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chan, H.L.; Megow, N.; Sitters, R.A.; van Stee, R.

2012-01-01

We consider the offline sorting buffer problem. The input is a sequence of items of different types. All items must be processed one by one by a server. The server is equipped with a random-access buffer of limited capacity which can be used to rearrange items. The problem is to design a scheduling

Relevance-aware filtering of tuples sorted by an attribute value via direct optimization of search quality metrics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spirin, N.V.; Kuznetsov, M.; Kiseleva, Y.; Spirin, Y.V.; Izhutov, P.A.

2015-01-01

Sorting tuples by an attribute value is a common search scenario and many search engines support such capabilities, e.g. price-based sorting in e-commerce, time-based sorting on a job or social media website. However, sorting purely by the attribute value might lead to poor user experience because

Effects of month of breeding on reproductive efficiency of Holstein cows and heifers inseminated with sex-sorted or conventional semen in a hot environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellado, Miguel; Sepulveda, Edgar; Macias-Cruz, Ulises; Avendaño, Leonel; Garcia, Jose E; Veliz, Francisco G; Rodríguez, Alvaro

2014-01-01

The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of month of breeding on reproduction performance of Holstein heifers and cows inseminated with sex-sorted or conventional semen in a hot environment. Pregnancy per artificial insemination (P/AI; 64,666 services over an 8-year period) both in heifers (n = 22,313) and cows (n = 42,353) from a large dairy herd in northern Mexico (26°N) were evaluated with the GENMOD procedure of SAS, with respect to month of AI. Overall, P/AI with sex-sorted semen was greater (P sex-sorted semen. While there was no difference in P/AI between the sex-sorted sperm and conventional semen in cows inseminated in July (16 and 18 %, respectively), P/AI plummeted for both groups of cows during the summer and fall (more severe heat stress). P/AI was not different between heifers serviced with sex-sorted or conventional semen during the hottest months of the year (July to October). However, during the coldest month of the year (January and February), P/AI was 10 percentage points greater (P sex-sorted semen. It was concluded that in this hot climate cow and heifer fertility declined in the summer and fall when inseminated with conventional semen. However, the use of sex-sorted semen during summer and fall did not compromise the breeding success in heifers. Thus, this data suggest that sex-sorted semen promotes some embryonic thermoprotective mechanism, which leads to a marginal summer and fall fertility depression with this type of semen in this particular hot environment.

Sorting, Searching, and Simulation in the MapReduce Framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goodrich, Michael T.; Sitchinava, Nodari; Zhang, Qin

2011-01-01

usefulness of our approach by designing and analyzing efficient MapReduce algorithms for fundamental sorting, searching, and simulation problems. This study is motivated by a goal of ultimately putting the MapReduce framework on an equal theoretical footing with the well-known PRAM and BSP parallel...... in parallel computational geometry for the MapReduce framework, which result in efficient MapReduce algorithms for sorting, 2- and 3-dimensional convex hulls, and fixed-dimensional linear programming. For the case when mappers and reducers have a memory/message-I/O size of M = (N), for a small constant > 0...

Massively Parallel Sort-Merge Joins in Main Memory Multi-Core Database Systems

OpenAIRE

Albutiu, Martina-Cezara; Kemper, Alfons; Neumann, Thomas

2012-01-01

Two emerging hardware trends will dominate the database system technology in the near future: increasing main memory capacities of several TB per server and massively parallel multi-core processing. Many algorithmic and control techniques in current database technology were devised for disk-based systems where I/O dominated the performance. In this work we take a new look at the well-known sort-merge join which, so far, has not been in the focus of research in scalable massively parallel mult...

AMDLIBGZ, IBM 360 Subroutine Library for Data Processing, Graphics, Sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Jesse Y.

1980-01-01

Description of problem or function: AMDLIBGZ is a subset of the IBM 360 Subroutine Library at the Applied Mathematics Division at Argonne National Laboratory. This subset includes library categories G-Z: Identification/Description: G552S F RANF: Random number generator; J952S F YOLYPLOT: CalComp plots; J955S P GRAF: Prints a graph of points on line printer; K250S A1: Core to core conversion; K251S A HEXINP: Hexadecimal input for PL/I programs; K252S A HEXOUT: Hexadecimal output conv. PL/I programs; M101S F SORT: Algebraic sort; M150S F CSORT: Algebraic sort; M151S P2 ANLKWIC: KWIC sort; M250S A SMALLIST: Squeezes assembler listing to 8 x 11; N251S A ABEND: Calls ABEND dump; Q052S A CLOCK: Time; Q053S A COPYAGO: Copy load module from tape to disk; Q054S A DATE: Current date in form MM/DD/YY; Q055S A TIME: Time (24 hour clock) in EBCDIC HH.MM.SS; Z013S F: Variable metric minimization; Z057S A LOCF: Locate machine addresses of variables; Z071S A ALLOC: Allocate LCS for FORTRAN programs; Z074S A ANLMNP: Exponent and mantissa manipulative functs.

Smoothsort, an alternative for sorting in situ

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, E.W.

1982-01-01

Like heapsort - which inspired it - smoothsort is an algorithm for sorting in situ. It is of order N · log N in the worst case, but of order N in the best case, with a smooth transition between the two. (Hence its name.)

In-flight Sorting of BNNTs by Aspect Ratio

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The key technical challenges are: (a) mechanical sorting is ineffective for nanoscale product, (b) BNNTs are non-conductive and the agglomeration tendency is strong,...

Effect of increasing the level of alfalfa hay in finishing beef heifer diets on intake, sorting, and feeding behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Madruga, A; González, L A; Mainau, E; Ruíz de la Torre, J L; Rodríguez-Prado, M; Manteca, X; Ferret, A

2018-02-15

Eight rumen cannulated Simmental heifers (BW = 281.4 ± 7.28 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental treatments in a 4 × 4 replicated Latin square design to ascertain the effects of increasing levels of alfalfa hay on intake, sorting, and feeding behavior in comparison to barley straw as forage source. Treatments tested were four total mixed rations with: 1) 10% barley straw (10BS) with 7.0% NDF from forage, 2) 13% alfalfa hay (13AH) and less NDF from forage (5.7%) than 10BS, 3) 16% alfalfa hay (16AH) and the same NDF from forage (7.0%) as 10BS, and 4) 19% alfalfa hay (19AH) and more NDF from forage (8.3%) than 10BS. Each experimental period consisted of 3 wk for adaptation and 1 wk for sampling. Increasing the proportion of alfalfa hay in the diet linearly increased (P comparison to the 10BS diet. In the same way, intake of long, medium, and short particle size was greater in this diet. Moreover, heifers fed 19AH sorted for medium particle size and tended to sort for long and short particles size, and against fine particle size. Sorting behavior and meal length increased in the 19AH diet, which leads us to think that sorting feed ingredients requires time and therefore lengthens the meal. Time spent ruminating was greater in heifers fed 19AH, thus reducing the risk of ruminal acidosis when animals are fed high concentrate diets.

System for optical sorting of microscopic objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2014-01-01

The present invention relates to a system for optical sorting of microscopic objects and corresponding method. An optical detection system (52) is capable of determining the positions of said first and/or said second objects. One or more force transfer units (200, 205, 210, 215) are placed...... in a first reservoir, the one or more force units being suitable for optical momentum transfer. An electromagnetic radiation source (42) yields a radiation beam (31, 32) capable of optically displacing the force transfer units from one position to another within the first reservoir (1R). The force transfer...... units are displaced from positions away from the first objects to positions close to the first objects, and then displacing the first objects via a contact force (300) between the first objects and the force transfer units facilitates an optical sorting of the first objects and the second objects....

Hierarchical Adaptive Means (HAM) clustering for hardware-efficient, unsupervised and real-time spike sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Paraskevopoulou, Sivylla E; Wu, Di; Eftekhar, Amir; Constandinou, Timothy G

2014-09-30

This work presents a novel unsupervised algorithm for real-time adaptive clustering of neural spike data (spike sorting). The proposed Hierarchical Adaptive Means (HAM) clustering method combines centroid-based clustering with hierarchical cluster connectivity to classify incoming spikes using groups of clusters. It is described how the proposed method can adaptively track the incoming spike data without requiring any past history, iteration or training and autonomously determines the number of spike classes. Its performance (classification accuracy) has been tested using multiple datasets (both simulated and recorded) achieving a near-identical accuracy compared to k-means (using 10-iterations and provided with the number of spike classes). Also, its robustness in applying to different feature extraction methods has been demonstrated by achieving classification accuracies above 80% across multiple datasets. Last but crucially, its low complexity, that has been quantified through both memory and computation requirements makes this method hugely attractive for future hardware implementation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Knowledge Test

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Ole Henning

1998-01-01

The knowledge test is about competing temporal and spatial expressions of the politics of technological development and national prosperity in contemporary society. The discussion is based on literature of national systems of innovation and industrial networks of various sorts. Similarities...... and differences in the disparate theories are discussed through a critical perspective on metaphor, time, space, agency and technology. It is asserted that the process of globalization is leading to a new production of space-time perceptions and practices where localization and globalization is becoming...... increasingly important. National space is being contested and nation states need to perform differently....

Inspection system performance test procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, C.E.

1995-01-01

This procedure establishes requirements to administer a performance demonstration test. The test is to demonstrate that the double-shell tank inspection system (DSTIS) supplied by the contractor performs in accordance with the WHC-S-4108, Double-Shell Tank Ultrasonic Inspection Performance Specification, Rev. 2-A, January, 1995. The inspection system is intended to provide ultrasonic (UT) and visual data to determine integrity of the Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) site underground waste tanks. The robotic inspection system consists of the following major sub-systems (modules) and components: Mobile control center; Deployment module; Cable management assembly; Robot mechanism; Ultrasonic testing system; Visual testing system; Pneumatic system; Electrical system; and Control system

FISHIS: fluorescence in situ hybridization in suspension and chromosome flow sorting made easy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debora Giorgi

Full Text Available The large size and complex polyploid nature of many genomes has often hampered genomics development, as is the case for several plants of high agronomic value. Isolating single chromosomes or chromosome arms via flow sorting offers a clue to resolve such complexity by focusing sequencing to a discrete and self-consistent part of the whole genome. The occurrence of sufficient differences in the size and or base-pair composition of the individual chromosomes, which is uncommon in plants, is critical for the success of flow sorting. We overcome this limitation by developing a robust method for labeling isolated chromosomes, named Fluorescent In situ Hybridization In suspension (FISHIS. FISHIS employs fluorescently labeled synthetic repetitive DNA probes, which are hybridized, in a wash-less procedure, to chromosomes in suspension following DNA alkaline denaturation. All typical A, B and D genomes of wheat, as well as individual chromosomes from pasta (T. durum L. and bread (T. aestivum L. wheat, were flow-sorted, after FISHIS, at high purity. For the first time in eukaryotes, each individual chromosome of a diploid organism, Dasypyrum villosum (L. Candargy, was flow-sorted regardless of its size or base-pair related content. FISHIS-based chromosome sorting is a powerful and innovative flow cytogenetic tool which can develop new genomic resources from each plant species, where microsatellite DNA probes are available and high quality chromosome suspensions could be produced. The joining of FISHIS labeling and flow sorting with the Next Generation Sequencing methodology will enforce genomics for more species, and by this mightier chromosome approach it will be possible to increase our knowledge about structure, evolution and function of plant genome to be used for crop improvement. It is also anticipated that this technique could contribute to analyze and sort animal chromosomes with peculiar cytogenetic abnormalities, such as copy number variations

FISHIS: fluorescence in situ hybridization in suspension and chromosome flow sorting made easy.

Science.gov (United States)

Giorgi, Debora; Farina, Anna; Grosso, Valentina; Gennaro, Andrea; Ceoloni, Carla; Lucretti, Sergio

2013-01-01

The large size and complex polyploid nature of many genomes has often hampered genomics development, as is the case for several plants of high agronomic value. Isolating single chromosomes or chromosome arms via flow sorting offers a clue to resolve such complexity by focusing sequencing to a discrete and self-consistent part of the whole genome. The occurrence of sufficient differences in the size and or base-pair composition of the individual chromosomes, which is uncommon in plants, is critical for the success of flow sorting. We overcome this limitation by developing a robust method for labeling isolated chromosomes, named Fluorescent In situ Hybridization In suspension (FISHIS). FISHIS employs fluorescently labeled synthetic repetitive DNA probes, which are hybridized, in a wash-less procedure, to chromosomes in suspension following DNA alkaline denaturation. All typical A, B and D genomes of wheat, as well as individual chromosomes from pasta (T. durum L.) and bread (T. aestivum L.) wheat, were flow-sorted, after FISHIS, at high purity. For the first time in eukaryotes, each individual chromosome of a diploid organism, Dasypyrum villosum (L.) Candargy, was flow-sorted regardless of its size or base-pair related content. FISHIS-based chromosome sorting is a powerful and innovative flow cytogenetic tool which can develop new genomic resources from each plant species, where microsatellite DNA probes are available and high quality chromosome suspensions could be produced. The joining of FISHIS labeling and flow sorting with the Next Generation Sequencing methodology will enforce genomics for more species, and by this mightier chromosome approach it will be possible to increase our knowledge about structure, evolution and function of plant genome to be used for crop improvement. It is also anticipated that this technique could contribute to analyze and sort animal chromosomes with peculiar cytogenetic abnormalities, such as copy number variations or cytogenetic

Check-All-That-Apply (CATA), Sorting, and Polarized Sensory Positioning (PSP) with Astringent Stimuli

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Erin E.; Ziegler, Gregory R.; Hayes, John E.

2015-01-01

performed 1:1 with the experimenter, which makes sorting relatively less efficient than CATA or PSP. Based on the evaluation criteria used here, the choice of method depends on the time constraints of the experimenter and the need for descriptive terms to understand the sensory space of the samples. Accordingly, we recommend a mixed approach that combines CATA with a subsequent PSP task so that the product space can be well characterized before choosing poles for PSP. PMID:26113771

Size and density sorting of dust grains in SPH simulations of protoplanetary discs

Science.gov (United States)

Pignatale, F. C.; Gonzalez, J.-F.; Cuello, Nicolas; Bourdon, Bernard; Fitoussi, Caroline

2017-07-01

The size and density of dust grains determine their response to gas drag in protoplanetary discs. Aerodynamical (size × density) sorting is one of the proposed mechanisms to explain the grain properties and chemical fractionation of chondrites. However, the efficiency of aerodynamical sorting and the location in the disc in which it could occur are still unknown. Although the effects of grain sizes and growth in discs have been widely studied, a simultaneous analysis including dust composition is missing. In this work, we present the dynamical evolution and growth of multicomponent dust in a protoplanetary disc using a 3D, two-fluid (gas+dust) smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. We find that the dust vertical settling is characterized by two phases: a density-driven phase that leads to a vertical chemical sorting of dust and a size-driven phase that enhances the amount of lighter material in the mid-plane. We also see an efficient radial chemical sorting of the dust at large scales. We find that dust particles are aerodynamically sorted in the inner disc. The disc becomes sub-solar in its Fe/Si ratio on the surface since the early stage of evolution but sub-solar Fe/Si can be also found in the outer disc-mid-plane at late stages. Aggregates in the disc mimic the physical and chemical properties of chondrites, suggesting that aerodynamical sorting played an important role in determining their final structure.

Heavy mineral sorting in downwards injected Palaeocene sandstone, Siri Canyon, Danish North Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazerouni, Afsoon Moatari; Friis, Henrik; Svendsen, Johan Byskov

2011-01-01

Post-depositional remobilization and injection of sand are often seen in deep-water clastic systems and has been recently recognised as a significant modifier of deep-water sandstone geometry. Large-scale injectite complexes have been interpreted from borehole data in the Palaeocene Siri Canyon...... of depositional structures in deep-water sandstones, the distinction between "in situ" and injected or remobilised sandstones is often ambiguous. Large scale heavy mineral sorting (in 10 m thick units) is observed in several reservoir units in the Siri Canyon and has been interpreted to represent the depositional...... sorting. In this study we describe an example of effective shear-zone sorting of heavy minerals in a thin downward injected sandstone dyke which was encountered in one of the cores in the Cecilie Field, Siri Canyon. Differences in sorting pattern of heavy minerals are suggested as a tool for petrographic...

Double-shell tank integrity assessments ultrasonic test equipment performance test

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pfluger, D.C.

1996-09-26

A double-shell tank (DST) inspection (DSTI) system was performance tested over three months until August 1995 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, completing a contract initiated in February 1993 to design, fabricate, and test an ultrasonic inspection system intended to provide ultrasonic test (UT) and visual data to determine the integrity of 28 DSTs at Hanford. The DSTs are approximately one-million-gallon underground radioactive-waste storage tanks. The test was performed in accordance with a procedure (Jensen 1995) that included requirements described in the contract specification (Pfluger 1995). This report documents the results of tests conducted to evaluate the performance of the DSTI system against the requirements of the contract specification. The test of the DSTI system also reflects the performance of qualified personnel and operating procedures.

TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT FOR SORTING APPLES BY SIZE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasilica Ştefan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Need to increase the competitiveness of semi-subsistence farms, by valorisation of the fruits, led to research for designing of an equipment for sorting apples by size, in order to meet market requirement, pricing according to the size of the fruits.

Multi-objective calibration of a reservoir model: aggregation and non-dominated sorting approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y.

2012-12-01

Numerical reservoir models can be helpful tools for water resource management. These models are generally calibrated against historical measurement data made in reservoirs. In this study, two methods are proposed for the multi-objective calibration of such models: aggregation and non-dominated sorting methods. Both methods use a hybrid genetic algorithm as an optimization engine and are different in fitness assignment. In the aggregation method, a weighted sum of scaled simulation errors is designed as an overall objective function to measure the fitness of solutions (i.e. parameter values). The contribution of this study to the aggregation method is the correlation analysis and its implication to the choice of weight factors. In the non-dominated sorting method, a novel method based on non-dominated sorting and the method of minimal distance is used to calculate the dummy fitness of solutions. The proposed methods are illustrated using a water quality model that was set up to simulate the water quality of Pepacton Reservoir, which is located to the north of New York City and is used for water supply of city. The study also compares the aggregation and the non-dominated sorting methods. The purpose of this comparison is not to evaluate the pros and cons between the two methods but to determine whether the parameter values, objective function values (simulation errors) and simulated results obtained are significantly different with each other. The final results (objective function values) from the two methods are good compromise between all objective functions, and none of these results are the worst for any objective function. The calibrated model provides an overall good performance and the simulated results with the calibrated parameter values match the observed data better than the un-calibrated parameters, which supports and justifies the use of multi-objective calibration. The results achieved in this study can be very useful for the calibration of water

Sediment sorting along tidal sand waves: A comparison between field observations and theoretical predictions

Science.gov (United States)

Van Oyen, Tomas; Blondeaux, Paolo; Van den Eynde, Dries

2013-07-01

A site-by-site comparison between field observations and theoretical predictions of sediment sorting patterns along tidal sand waves is performed for ten locations in the North Sea. At each site, the observed grain size distribution along the bottom topography and the geometry of the bed forms is described in detail and the procedure used to obtain the model parameters is summarized. The model appears to accurately describe the wavelength of the observed sand waves for the majority of the locations; still providing a reliable estimate for the other sites. In addition, it is found that for seven out of the ten locations, the qualitative sorting process provided by the model agrees with the observed grain size distribution. A discussion of the site-by-site comparison is provided which, taking into account uncertainties in the field data, indicates that the model grasps the major part of the key processes controlling the phenomenon.

New designs in the reconstruction of coke-sorting systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A.S. Larin; V.V. Demenko; V.L. Voitanik [Giprokoks, the State Institute for the Design of Coke-Industry Enterprises, Kharkov (Ukraine)

2009-07-15

In recent Giprokoks designs for the reconstruction of coke-sorting systems, high-productivity vibrational-inertial screens have been employed. This permits single-stage screening and reduction in capital and especially operating expenditures, without loss of coke quality. In two-stage screening, >80 mm coke (for foundry needs) is additionally separated, with significant improvement in quality of the metallurgical coke (25-80 mm). New designs for the reconstruction of coke-sorting systems employ mechanical treatment of the coke outside the furnace, which offers new scope for stabilization of coke quality and permits considerable improvement in mechanical strength and granulometric composition of the coke by mechanical crushing.

Effect of early exposure to different feed presentations on feed sorting of dairy calves.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller-Cushon, E K; Bergeron, R; Leslie, K E; Mason, G J; Devries, T J

2013-07-01

This study examined how early exposure to different feed presentations affects development of feed sorting in dairy calves. Twenty Holstein bull calves were exposed for the first 8 wk of life to 1 of 2 feed presentation treatments: concentrate and chopped grass hay (haylage, 21.5% high-moisture corn, and 16.0% protein supplement) in wk 12 to 13. Intake was recorded daily and calves were weighed twice a week. Fresh feed and orts were sampled on d 1 to 4 of wk 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 for analysis of feed sorting, which was assessed through nutrient analysis for the MIX diet and particle size analysis for the TMR. The particle separator had 3 screens (19, 8, and 1.18mm) producing long, medium, short, and fine particle fractions. Sorting of nutrients or particle fractions was calculated as the actual intake as a percentage of predicted intake; values >100% indicate sorting for, whereas values <100% indicate sorting against. Feed presentation did not affect dry matter intake or growth. Prior to weaning, all calves selected in favor of hay; MIX calves consumed more neutral detergent fiber (NDF) than predicted (103.6%) and less nonfiber carbohydrates (NFC) than predicted (92.6%), and COM calves consumed, as a percentage of dry matter intake, 40.3% hay (vs. 30% offered rate). In wk 8, calves fed COM consumed more NFC than calves fed MIX (1.0 vs. 0.95kg/d) and less NDF (0.43 vs. 0.54kg/d), indicating greater selection in favor of concentrate. However, when provided the MIX diet, calves previously fed COM did not sort, whereas calves previously fed MIX consumed more NFC intake than predicted (103.2%) and less NDF intake than predicted (97.6%). Calves previously fed MIX maintained increased sorting after transition to the novel TMR, sorting against long particles (86.5%) and for short (101.8%) and fine (101.2%) particles. These results indicate that initially providing dairy calves with solid feeds as separate components, compared with as a mixed ration, reduces the extent of

LFK, FORTRAN Application Performance Test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McMahon, F.H.

1991-01-01

1 - Description of program or function: LFK, the Livermore FORTRAN Kernels, is a computer performance test that measures a realistic floating-point performance range for FORTRAN applications. Informally known as the Livermore Loops test, the LFK test may be used as a computer performance test, as a test of compiler accuracy (via checksums) and efficiency, or as a hardware endurance test. The LFK test, which focuses on FORTRAN as used in computational physics, measures the joint performance of the computer CPU, the compiler, and the computational structures in units of Mega-flops/sec or Mflops. A C language version of subroutine KERNEL is also included which executes 24 samples of C numerical computation. The 24 kernels are a hydrodynamics code fragment, a fragment from an incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient code, the standard inner product function of linear algebra, a fragment from a banded linear equations routine, a segment of a tridiagonal elimination routine, an example of a general linear recurrence equation, an equation of state fragment, part of an alternating direction implicit integration code, an integrate predictor code, a difference predictor code, a first sum, a first difference, a fragment from a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code, a part of a one-dimensional particle-in-cell code, an example of how casually FORTRAN can be written, a Monte Carlo search loop, an example of an implicit conditional computation, a fragment of a two-dimensional explicit hydrodynamics code, a general linear recurrence equation, part of a discrete ordinates transport program, a simple matrix calculation, a segment of a Planck distribution procedure, a two-dimensional implicit hydrodynamics fragment, and determination of the location of the first minimum in an array. 2 - Method of solution: CPU performance rates depend strongly on the maturity of FORTRAN compiler machine code optimization. The LFK test-bed executes the set of 24 kernels three times, resetting the DO

Sorting cells of the microalga Chlorococcum littorale with increased triacylglycerol productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabanelas, Iago Teles Dominguez; van der Zwart, Mathijs; Kleinegris, Dorinde M M; Wijffels, René H; Barbosa, Maria J

2016-01-01

Despite extensive research in the last decades, microalgae are still only economically feasible for high valued markets. Strain improvement is a strategy to increase productivities, hence reducing costs. In this work, we focus on microalgae selection: taking advantage of the natural biological variability of species to select variations based on desired characteristics. We focused on triacylglycerol (TAG), which have applications ranging from biodiesel to high-value omega-3 fatty-acids. Hence, we demonstrated a strategy to sort microalgae cells with increased TAG productivity. 1. We successfully identified sub-populations of cells with increased TAG productivity using Fluorescence assisted cell sorting (FACS). 2. We sequentially sorted cells after repeated cycles of N-starvation, resulting in five sorted populations (S1-S5). 3. The comparison between sorted and original populations showed that S5 had the highest TAG productivity [0.34 against 0.18 g l(-1) day(-1) (original), continuous light]. 4. Original and S5 were compared in lab-scale reactors under simulated summer conditions confirming the increased TAG productivity of S5 (0.4 against 0.2 g l(-1) day(-1)). Biomass composition analyses showed that S5 produced more biomass under N-starvation because of an increase only in TAG content and, flow cytometry showed that our selection removed cells with lower efficiency in producing TAGs. All combined, our results present a successful strategy to improve the TAG productivity of Chlorococcum littorale, without resourcing to genetic manipulation or random mutagenesis. Additionally, the improved TAG productivity of S5 was confirmed under simulated summer conditions, highlighting the industrial potential of S5 for microalgal TAG production.

Test planning and performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zola, Maurizio

2001-01-01

Testing plan should include Safety guide Q4 - Inspection and testing - A testing plan should be prepared including following information: General information (facility name, item or system reference, procurement document reference, document reference number and status, associated procedures and drawings); A sequential listing of all testing activities; Procedure, work instruction, specification or standard to be followed in respect of each operation and test; Acceptance criteria; Identification of who is performing tests; Identification of hold points; Type of records to be prepared for each test; Persons and organizations having authority for final acceptance. Proposed activities sequence is: visual, electrical and mechanical checks; environmental tests (thermal aging, vibrations aging, radioactive aging); performance evaluation in extreme conditions; dynamic tests with functional checks; final electrical and mechanical checks The planning of the tests should always be performed taking into account an interpretative model: a very tight cooperation is advisable between experimental people and numerical people dealing with the analysis of more or less complex models for the seismic assessment of structures and components. Preparatory phase should include the choice of the following items should be agreed upon with the final user of the tests: Excitation points, Excitation types, Excitation amplitude with respect to frequency, Measuring points. Data acquisition, recording and storage, should take into account the characteristics of the successive data processing: to much data can be cumbersome to be processed, but to few data can make unusable the experimental results. The parameters for time history acquisition should be chosen taking into account data processing: for Shock Response Spectrum calculation some special requirements should be met: frequency bounded signal, high frequency sampling, shock noise. For stationary random-like excitation, the sample length

The effect of transverse bed slope and sediment mobility on bend sorting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weisscher, S.A.H.; Baar, A.W.; Uijttewaal, W.S.J.; Kleinhans, MG

2017-01-01

Lateral sorting (= bend sorting) is observed in  natural meanders, where the inner and outer  bend are fairly fine and coarse, respectively  (e.g. Julien and Anthony, 2002; Clayton and  Pitlick, 2007). This is caused by the mass  differences between grains on a

Radioactive material packaging performance testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romano, T.; Cruse, J.M.

1991-02-01

To provide uniform packaging of hazardous materials on an international level, the United Nations has developed packaging recommendations that have been implemented worldwide. The United Nations packaging recommendations are performance oriented, allowing for a wide variety of package materials and systems. As a result of this international standard, efforts in the United States are being directed toward use of performance-oriented packaging and elimination of specification (designed) packaging. This presentation will focus on trends, design evaluation, and performance testing of radioactive material packaging. The impacts of US Department of Transportation Dockets HM-181 and HM-169A on specification and low-specific activity radioactive material packaging requirements are briefly discussed. The US Department of Energy's program for evaluating radioactive material packings per US Department of Transportation Specification 7A Type A requirements, is used as the basis for discussing low-activity packaging performance test requirements. High-activity package testing requirements are presented with examples of testing performed at the Hanford Site that is operated by Westinghouse Hanford Company for the US Department of Energy. 5 refs., 2 tabs

Environmental species sorting dominates forest-bird community assembly across scales

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Özkan, Korhan; Svenning, J.-C.; Jeppesen, Erik

2013-01-01

species richness and composition within the metacommunity. Second, we analysed species' abundance–occupancy relationship across the metacommunity and used null models to assess whether occupancy is determined by species' environmental niches. Third, we used generalized linear models to test for links...... between species' metacommunity-wide occupancy and their broader WP regional populations and assessed whether these links are consistent with environmental species sorting. There was strong environmental control on local species richness and composition patterns within the metacommunity, but non......-environmental spatial factors had also an important joint role. Null model analyses on randomized communities showed that species' occupancy across the metacommunity was strongly determined by species' environmental niches, with occupancy being related to niche position marginality. Species' metacommunity...

Long term estimates for sorting strategies of the LHC dipoles

CERN Document Server

Scandale, Walter; Giovannozzi, Massimo; Todesco, Ezio

1998-01-01

Sorting strategies are investigated in view of improving the dynamic aperture of the CERN-LHC. Local and quasi-local compensation of the random field shape imperfections are discussed and applied to simplified model of the LHC lattice. The most promising strategies are further investigated on a realistic LHC model with particular emphasis on the analysis of the robustness of the dynamic aperture improvements including long term effects. First results on the application of the recently developed extrapolation law for the prediction of the dynamic aperture to the sorting problem are presented.

Generic sorting of raft lipids into secretory vesicles in yeast

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Surma, Michal A; Klose, Christian; Klemm, Robin W

2011-01-01

Previous work has showed that ergosterol and sphingolipids become sorted to secretory vesicles immunoisolated using a chimeric, artificial raft membrane protein as bait. In this study, we have extended this analysis to three populations of secretory vesicles isolated using natural yeast plasma...... a complete lipid overview of the yeast late secretory pathway. We could show that vesicles captured with different baits carry the same cargo and have almost identical lipid compositions; being highly enriched in ergosterol and sphingolipids. This finding indicates that lipid raft sorting is a generic...

Synthesis of models for order-sorted first-order theories using linear algebra and constraint solving

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salvador Lucas

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in termination analysis for declarative programs emphasize the use of appropriate models for the logical theory representing the program at stake as a generic approach to prove termination of declarative programs. In this setting, Order-Sorted First-Order Logic provides a powerful framework to represent declarative programs. It also provides a target logic to obtain models for other logics via transformations. We investigate the automatic generation of numerical models for order-sorted first-order logics and its use in program analysis, in particular in termination analysis of declarative programs. We use convex domains to give domains to the different sorts of an order-sorted signature; we interpret the ranked symbols of sorted signatures by means of appropriately adapted convex matrix interpretations. Such numerical interpretations permit the use of existing algorithms and tools from linear algebra and arithmetic constraint solving to synthesize the models.

Uniform peanut performance test 2017

Science.gov (United States)

The Uniform Peanut Performance Tests (UPPT) are designed to evaluate the commercial potential of advanced breeding peanut lines not formally released. The tests are performed in ten locations across the peanut production belt. In this study, 2 controls and 14 entries were evaluated at 8 locations....

A sorting network in bounded arithmetic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jeřábek, Emil

2011-01-01

Roč. 162, č. 4 (2011), s. 341-355 ISSN 0168-0072 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA1019401; GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0545 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : bounded arithmetic * sorting network * proof complexity * monotone sequent calculus Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.450, year: 2011 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168007210001272

A monolithic glass chip for active single-cell sorting based on mechanical phenotyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Faigle, Christoph; Lautenschläger, Franziska; Whyte, Graeme; Homewood, Philip; Martín-Badosa, Estela; Guck, Jochen

2015-03-07

The mechanical properties of biological cells have long been considered as inherent markers of biological function and disease. However, the screening and active sorting of heterogeneous populations based on serial single-cell mechanical measurements has not been demonstrated. Here we present a novel monolithic glass chip for combined fluorescence detection and mechanical phenotyping using an optical stretcher. A new design and manufacturing process, involving the bonding of two asymmetrically etched glass plates, combines exact optical fiber alignment, low laser damage threshold and high imaging quality with the possibility of several microfluidic inlet and outlet channels. We show the utility of such a custom-built optical stretcher glass chip by measuring and sorting single cells in a heterogeneous population based on their different mechanical properties and verify sorting accuracy by simultaneous fluorescence detection. This offers new possibilities of exact characterization and sorting of small populations based on rheological properties for biological and biomedical applications.

Hrs and SNX3 functions in sorting and membrane invagination within multivesicular bodies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Véronique Pons

2008-09-01

Full Text Available After internalization, ubiquitinated signaling receptors are delivered to early endosomes. There, they are sorted and incorporated into the intralumenal invaginations of nascent multivesicular bodies, which function as transport intermediates to late endosomes. Receptor sorting is achieved by Hrs--an adaptor--like protein that binds membrane PtdIns3P via a FYVE motif-and then by ESCRT complexes, which presumably also mediate the invagination process. Eventually, intralumenal vesicles are delivered to lysosomes, leading to the notion that EGF receptor sorting into multivesicular bodies mediates lysosomal targeting. Here, we report that Hrs is essential for lysosomal targeting but dispensable for multivesicular body biogenesis and transport to late endosomes. By contrast, we find that the PtdIns3P-binding protein SNX3 is required for multivesicular body formation, but not for EGF receptor degradation. PtdIns3P thus controls the complementary functions of Hrs and SNX3 in sorting and multivesicular body biogenesis.

Exploring student preferences with a Q-sort: the development of an individualized renal physiology curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, John K; Hargett, Charles W; Nagler, Alisa; Jakoi, Emma; Lehrich, Ruediger W

2015-09-01

Medical education reform is underway, but the optimal course for change has yet to be seen. While planning for the redesign of a renal physiology course at the Duke School of Medicine, the authors used a Q-sort survey to assess students' attitudes and learning preferences to inform curricular change. The authors invited first-year medical students at the Duke School of Medicine to take a Q-sort survey on the first day of renal physiology. Students prioritized statements related to their understanding of renal physiology, learning preferences, preferred course characteristics, perceived clinical relevance of renal physiology, and interest in nephrology as a career. By-person factor analysis was performed using the centroid method. Three dominant factors were strongly defined by learning preferences: "readers" prefer using notes, a textbook, and avoid lectures; "social-auditory learners" prefer attending lectures, interactivity, and working with peers; and "visual learners" prefer studying images, diagrams, and viewing materials online. A smaller, fourth factor represented a small group of students with a strong predisposition against renal physiology and nephrology. In conclusion, the Q-sort survey identified and then described in detail the dominant viewpoints of our students. Learning style preferences better classified first-year students rather than any of the other domains. A more individualized curriculum would simultaneously cater to the different types of learners in the classroom. Copyright © 2015 The American Physiological Society.

The ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 improves recovery of human embryonic stem cells after fluorescence-activated cell sorting with multiple cell surface markers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nil Emre

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Due to the inherent sensitivity of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs to manipulations, the recovery and survival of hESCs after fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS can be low. Additionally, a well characterized and robust methodology for performing FACS on hESCs using multiple-cell surface markers has not been described. The p160-Rho-associated coiled kinase (ROCK inhibitor, Y-27632, previously has been identified as enhancing survival of hESCs upon single-cell dissociation, as well as enhancing recovery from cryopreservation. Here we examined the application of Y-27632 to hESCs after FACS to improve survival in both feeder-dependent and feeder-independent growth conditions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: HESCs were sorted using markers for SSEA-3, TRA-1-81, and SSEA-1. Cells were plated after sorting for 24 hours in either the presence or the absence of Y-27632. In both feeder-dependent and feeder-independent conditions, cell survival was greater when Y-27632 was applied to the hESCs after sort. Specifically, treatment of cells with Y-27632 improved post-sort recovery up to four fold. To determine the long-term effects of sorting with and without the application of Y-27632, hESCs were further analyzed. Specifically, hESCs sorted with and without the addition of Y-27632 retained normal morphology, expressed hESC-specific markers as measured by immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry, and maintained a stable karyotype. In addition, the hESCs could differentiate into three germ layers in vitro and in vivo in both feeder-dependent and feeder-independent growth conditions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The application of Y-27632 to hESCs after cell sorting improves cell recovery with no observed effect on pluripotency, and enables the consistent recovery of hESCs by FACS using multiple surface markers. This improved methodology for cell sorting of hESCs will aid many applications such as removal of hESCs from secondary cell types

Selective sorting of waste - not much effort needed, just willpower

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

In order to keep as low as possible the cost of disposing of waste materials, CERN provides in the entrance to each building two types of recipient: a green plastic one for paper/cardboard and a metallic one for general refuse. For some time now, we have noticed, to our great regret, a growing neglect as far as the selective sorting is concerned, for example the green recipients being filled with a mixture of cardboard boxes full of polystyrene or of protective wrappers, plastic bottles, empty yogurts pots, etc …We have been able to ascertain, after carefully checking, that this haphazard mixing of waste cannot be attributed to the cleaning staff but rather to members of personnel who unscrupulously throw away their rubbish in a completely random manner. Waste non sorted entails heavy costs for CERN. For your information, once a non-compliant item is found in a green recipient, the entire contents are sent off for incineration rather than recycling… We are all concerned by selective sorting of waste mater...

Optimal Time-Space Trade-Offs for Non-Comparison-Based Sorting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagh, Rasmus; Pagter, Jacob Illeborg

2002-01-01

We study the problem of sorting n integers of w bits on a unit-cost RAM with word size w, and in particular consider the time-space trade-off (product of time and space in bits) for this problem. For comparison-based algorithms, the time-space complexity is known to be Θ(n2). A result of Beame...... shows that the lower bound also holds for non-comparison-based algorithms, but no algorithm has met this for time below the comparison-based Ω(nlgn) lower bound.We show that if sorting within some time bound &Ttilde; is possible, then time T = O(&Ttilde; + nlg* n) can be achieved with high probability...... using space S = O(n2/T + w), which is optimal. Given a deterministic priority queue using amortized time t(n) per operation and space nO(1), we provide a deterministic algorithm sorting in time T = O(n(t(n) + lg* n)) with S = O(n2/T + w). Both results require that w ≤ n1-Ω(1). Using existing priority...

An Automated Sorting System Based on Virtual Instrumentation Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodica Holonec

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The application presented in this paper represents an experimental model and it refers to the implementing of an automated sorting system for pieces of same shape but different sizes and/or colors. The classification is made according to two features: the color and weight of these pieces. The system is a complex combination of NI Vision hardware and software tools, strain gauges transducers, signal conditioning connected to data acquisition boards, motion and control elements. The system is very useful for students to learn and experiment different virtual instrumentation techniques in order to be able to develop a large field of applications from inspection and process control to sorting and assembly

Validation of neural spike sorting algorithms without ground-truth information.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Alex H; Magland, Jeremy F; Greengard, Leslie F

2016-05-01

The throughput of electrophysiological recording is growing rapidly, allowing thousands of simultaneous channels, and there is a growing variety of spike sorting algorithms designed to extract neural firing events from such data. This creates an urgent need for standardized, automatic evaluation of the quality of neural units output by such algorithms. We introduce a suite of validation metrics that assess the credibility of a given automatic spike sorting algorithm applied to a given dataset. By rerunning the spike sorter two or more times, the metrics measure stability under various perturbations consistent with variations in the data itself, making no assumptions about the internal workings of the algorithm, and minimal assumptions about the noise. We illustrate the new metrics on standard sorting algorithms applied to both in vivo and ex vivo recordings, including a time series with overlapping spikes. We compare the metrics to existing quality measures, and to ground-truth accuracy in simulated time series. We provide a software implementation. Metrics have until now relied on ground-truth, simulated data, internal algorithm variables (e.g. cluster separation), or refractory violations. By contrast, by standardizing the interface, our metrics assess the reliability of any automatic algorithm without reference to internal variables (e.g. feature space) or physiological criteria. Stability is a prerequisite for reproducibility of results. Such metrics could reduce the significant human labor currently spent on validation, and should form an essential part of large-scale automated spike sorting and systematic benchmarking of algorithms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spinach seed quality - potential for combining seed size grading and chlorophyll flourescence sorting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Deleuran, Lise Christina; Olesen, Merete Halkjær; Boelt, Birte

2013-01-01

might therefore improve the establishment of spinach for producers. Spinach seeds were harvested at five different times (H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5) starting 3 weeks before estimated optimum harvest time. The harvested seeds were sorted according to chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) and seed size. Two harvest.......5–3.25 mm size seeds had germinated on day 3 than both their larger and smaller counterparts at the later time of harvest (H4). Seeds with a diameter below 2.5 mm displayed the lowest MGT. Commercially, the use of chlorophyll fluorescence (CF)-sorted seeds, in combination with seed size sorting, may provide...

40 CFR 63.344 - Performance test requirements and test methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... electroplating tanks or chromium anodizing tanks. The sampling time and sample volume for each run of Methods 306... Chromium Anodizing Tanks § 63.344 Performance test requirements and test methods. (a) Performance test... Emissions From Decorative and Hard Chromium Electroplating and Anodizing Operations,” appendix A of this...

A Computer Environment for Beginners' Learning of Sorting Algorithms: Design and Pilot Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Kordaki, M.; Miatidis, M.; Kapsampelis, G.

2008-01-01

This paper presents the design, features and pilot evaluation study of a web-based environment--the SORTING environment--for the learning of sorting algorithms by secondary level education students. The design of this environment is based on modeling methodology, taking into account modern constructivist and social theories of learning while at…

Rapid assay for cell age response to radiation by electronic volume flow cell sorting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freyer, J.P.; Wilder, M.E.; Raju, M.R.

1987-01-01

A new technique is described for measuring cell survival as a function of cell cycle position using flow cytometric cell sorting on the basis of electronic volume signals. Sorting of cells into different cell age compartments is demonstrated for three different cell lines commonly used in radiobiological research. Using flow cytometric DNA content analysis and [ 3 H]thymidine autoradiography of the sorted cell populations, it is demonstrated that resolution of the age compartment separation is as good as or better than that reported for other cell synchronizing techniques. Variation in cell survival as a function of position in the cell cycle after a single dose of radiation as measured by volume cell sorting is similar to that determined by other cell synchrony techniques. Advantages of this method include: (1) no treatment of the cells is required, thus, this method is noncytotoxic; (2) no cell cycle progression is needed to obtain different cell age compartments; (3) the cell population can be held in complete growth medium at any desired temperature during sorting; (4) a complete radiation age - response assay can be plated in 2 h. Applications of this method are discussed, along with some technical limitations. (author)

Distinct forms of mitochondrial TOM-TIM supercomplexes define signal-dependent states of preprotein sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Chacinska, Agnieszka; van der Laan, Martin; Mehnert, Carola S; Guiard, Bernard; Mick, David U; Hutu, Dana P; Truscott, Kaye N; Wiedemann, Nils; Meisinger, Chris; Pfanner, Nikolaus; Rehling, Peter

2010-01-01

Mitochondrial import of cleavable preproteins occurs at translocation contact sites, where the translocase of the outer membrane (TOM) associates with the presequence translocase of the inner membrane (TIM23) in a supercomplex. Different views exist on the mechanism of how TIM23 mediates preprotein sorting to either the matrix or inner membrane. On the one hand, two TIM23 forms were proposed, a matrix transport form containing the presequence translocase-associated motor (PAM; TIM23-PAM) and a sorting form containing Tim21 (TIM23(SORT)). On the other hand, it was reported that TIM23 and PAM are permanently associated in a single-entity translocase. We have accumulated distinct transport intermediates of preproteins to analyze the translocases in their active, preprotein-carrying state. We identified two different forms of active TOM-TIM23 supercomplexes, TOM-TIM23(SORT) and TOM-TIM23-PAM. These two supercomplexes do not represent separate pathways but are in dynamic exchange during preprotein translocation and sorting. Depending on the signals of the preproteins, switches between the different forms of supercomplex and TIM23 are required for the completion of preprotein import.

LOGISTICAL SUPPORT OF PROCESSES OF SORTING OUT OF THE DESTROYED BUILDING OBJECTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SHATOV S. V.

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Summary. Raising of problem. Natural calamities, technogenic catastrophes and failures, result in destruction of building objects. Under the obstructions of destructions there can be victims. The most widespread technogenic failure are explosions of domestic gas. The structure of obstructions changes depending on parameters and direction of explosion, first of all size and location of wreckages. Sorting out of obstructions is executed by machines and mechanisms which do not answer the requirements of these works, that predetermines falling short of logistical support to the requirements of rescue or restoration works, and it increases terms and labour intensiveness of their conduct. Development of technological decisions is therefore needed for the effective sorting out of destructions of building objects. Purpose. Development of methodology of determination of logistical support of processes of sorting out of destructions of building and building. Conclusion. Experience of works shows on sorting out of the destroyed building objects, that they are executed with the use of imperfect logistical support, which are not taken into account by character of destruction of objects and is based on the use of buildings machines which do not answer the requirements of these processes, that results in considerable resource losses. Building machines with a multipurpose equipment, which provide the increase of efficiency of implementation of rescue and restoration works, are worked out. Methodology of determination of number of technique is worked out for providing of material-supply of sorting out of destructions, in particular on the initial stage of rescue works for liberation of victims from under obstructions.

Pulsed laser activated cell sorter (PLACS) for high-throughput fluorescent mammalian cell sorting

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yue; Wu, Ting-Hsiang; Chung, Aram; Kung, Yu-Chung; Teitell, Michael A.; Di Carlo, Dino; Chiou, Pei-Yu

2014-09-01

We present a Pulsed Laser Activated Cell Sorter (PLACS) realized by exciting laser induced cavitation bubbles in a PDMS microfluidic channel to create high speed liquid jets to deflect detected fluorescent samples for high speed sorting. Pulse laser triggered cavitation bubbles can expand in few microseconds and provide a pressure higher than tens of MPa for fluid perturbation near the focused spot. This ultrafast switching mechanism has a complete on-off cycle less than 20 μsec. Two approaches have been utilized to achieve 3D sample focusing in PLACS. One is relying on multilayer PDMS channels to provide 3D hydrodynamic sheath flows. It offers accurate timing control of fast (2 m sec-1) passing particles so that synchronization with laser bubble excitation is possible, an critically important factor for high purity and high throughput sorting. PLACS with 3D hydrodynamic focusing is capable of sorting at 11,000 cells/sec with >95% purity, and 45,000 cells/sec with 45% purity using a single channel in a single step. We have also demonstrated 3D focusing using inertial flows in PLACS. This sheathless focusing approach requires 10 times lower initial cell concentration than that in sheath-based focusing and avoids severe sample dilution from high volume sheath flows. Inertia PLACS is capable of sorting at 10,000 particles sec-1 with >90% sort purity.

Using Sorting Networks for Skill Building and Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Andre, Robert; Wiest, Lynda R.

2007-01-01

Sorting networks, used in graph theory, have instructional value as a skill- building tool as well as an interesting exploration in discrete mathematics. Students can practice mathematics facts and develop reasoning and logic skills with this topic. (Contains 4 figures.)

Isolation of intact RNA from murine CD4+ T cells after intracellular cytokine staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunnath-Velayudhan, Shajo; Porcelli, Steven A

2018-05-01

Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) is a powerful method for identifying functionally distinct lymphocyte subsets, and for isolating these by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Although transcriptomic analysis of cells sorted on the basis of ICS has many potential applications, this is rarely performed because of the difficulty in isolating intact RNA from cells processed using standard fixation and permeabilization buffers for ICS. To address this issue, we compared three buffers shown previously to preserve RNA in nonhematopoietic cells subjected to intracellular staining for their effects on RNA isolated from T lymphocytes processed for ICS. Our results showed that buffers containing the recombinant ribonuclease inhibitor RNasin or high molar concentrations of salt yielded intact RNA from fixed and permeabilized T cells. As proof of principle, we successfully used the buffer containing RNasin to isolate intact RNA from CD4 + T cells that were sorted by FACS on the basis of specific cytokine production, thus demonstrating the potential of this approach for coupling ICS with transcriptomic analysis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Sort on Radioactive Waste Type model: A method to sort single-shell tanks into characteristic groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, J.G.; Simpson, B.C.

1994-04-01

The Sort on Radioactive Waste Type (SORWT) model presents a method to categorize Hanford Site single-shell tanks (SSTs) into groups of tank expected to exhibit similar chemical and physical characteristics based on their major waste types and processing histories. This model has identified 29 different waste-type groups encompassing 135 of the 149 SSTs and 93% of the total waste volume in SSTs. The remaining 14 SSTs and associated wastes could not be grouped according to the established criteria and were placed in an ungrouped category. This letter report will detail the assumptions and methodologies used to develop the SORWT model and present the grouping results. In the near future, the validity of the predicted groups will be statistically tested using analysis of variance of characterization data obtained from recent (post-1989) core sampling and analysis activities. In addition, the SORWT model will be used to project the nominal waste characteristics of entire waste type groups that have some recent characterization data available. These subsequent activities will be documented along with these initial results in a comprehensive, formal PNL report cleared for public release by September 1994

Sorting waste - A question of good will

CERN Multimedia

TS Department - FM Group

2006-01-01

In order to minimise waste-sorting costs, CERN provides two types of container at the entrance of buildings: a green plastic container for paper/cardboard and a metal container for household-type waste. We regret that recently there has been a significant decrease in the extent to which these types of waste are sorted, for example green containers have been found to hold assorted waste such as cardboard boxes filled with polystyrene, bubble-wrap or even plastic bottles, yoghurt pots, etc. Checks have shown that this 'non-compliant' waste does not come from the rubbish bins emptied by the cleaners but is deposited there directly by inconsiderate users. During the months of October and November alone, for example, only 15% of the waste from the paper/cardboard containers was recycled and the remaining 85% had to be incinerated, which entails a high cost for CERN. You should note that once an item of non-compliant waste is found in a green container its contents are immediately sent as waste to be incinerated ...

Bacterial lipoproteins; biogenesis, sorting and quality control.

Science.gov (United States)

Narita, Shin-Ichiro; Tokuda, Hajime

2017-11-01

Bacterial lipoproteins are a subset of membrane proteins localized on either leaflet of the lipid bilayer. These proteins are anchored to membranes through their N-terminal lipid moiety attached to a conserved Cys. Since the protein moiety of most lipoproteins is hydrophilic, they are expected to play various roles in a hydrophilic environment outside the cytoplasmic membrane. Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli possess an outer membrane, to which most lipoproteins are sorted. The Lol pathway plays a central role in the sorting of lipoproteins to the outer membrane after lipoprotein precursors are processed to mature forms in the cytoplasmic membrane. Most lipoproteins are anchored to the inner leaflet of the outer membrane with their protein moiety in the periplasm. However, recent studies indicated that some lipoproteins further undergo topology change in the outer membrane, and play critical roles in the biogenesis and quality control of the outer membrane. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Bacterial Lipids edited by Russell E. Bishop. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Mathematics Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, Tobias; Neumann, Roland

2014-01-01

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

Track data sort program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abramov, N.A.; Matveev, V.A.; Fedotov, O.P.

1977-01-01

The description is given of the MASKA program, based on the principle of sorting points array at surface due to their belonging to the topologically connected regions with boundaries of locked broken lines. The algorithm is realized on the ES-1010 computer for automatic image processing from the bubble chambers by scanning measuring projector. The methods are considered for constructing the above mentioned regions for all the images according to the base points measured on the semiautomatic measuring table. The MASKA program is written in the ASSEMBLER-2 language and equals 3.5K words of the main memory. The average processing time for 10000 points according to one mask is 1 sec

A 1.375-approximation algorithm for sorting by transpositions.

Science.gov (United States)

Elias, Isaac; Hartman, Tzvika

2006-01-01

Sorting permutations by transpositions is an important problem in genome rearrangements. A transposition is a rearrangement operation in which a segment is cut out of the permutation and pasted in a different location. The complexity of this problem is still open and it has been a 10-year-old open problem to improve the best known 1.5-approximation algorithm. In this paper, we provide a 1.375-approximation algorithm for sorting by transpositions. The algorithm is based on a new upper bound on the diameter of 3-permutations. In addition, we present some new results regarding the transposition diameter: we improve the lower bound for the transposition diameter of the symmetric group and determine the exact transposition diameter of simple permutations.

Sphingolipid trafficking and protein sorting in epithelial cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slimane, TA; Hoekstra, D

2002-01-01

Sphingolipids represent a minor, but highly dynamic subclass of lipids in all eukaryotic cells. They are involved in functions that range from structural protection to signal transduction and protein sorting, and participate in lipid raft assembly. In polarized epithelial cells, which display an

Optical sorting and photo-transfection of mammalian cells

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mthunzi, P

2010-02-01

Full Text Available and that the scattering force can enable sorting through axial guiding onto laminin coated glass coverslips upon which the selected cells adhere. Following this, I report on transient photo-transfection of mammalian cells including neuroblastomas (rat/mouse and human...

Raman-Activated Droplet Sorting (RADS) for Label-Free High-Throughput Screening of Microalgal Single-Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xixian; Ren, Lihui; Su, Yetian; Ji, Yuetong; Liu, Yaoping; Li, Chunyu; Li, Xunrong; Zhang, Yi; Wang, Wei; Hu, Qiang; Han, Danxiang; Xu, Jian; Ma, Bo

2017-11-21

Raman-activated cell sorting (RACS) has attracted increasing interest, yet throughput remains one major factor limiting its broader application. Here we present an integrated Raman-activated droplet sorting (RADS) microfluidic system for functional screening of live cells in a label-free and high-throughput manner, by employing AXT-synthetic industrial microalga Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) as a model. Raman microspectroscopy analysis of individual cells is carried out prior to their microdroplet encapsulation, which is then directly coupled to DEP-based droplet sorting. To validate the system, H. pluvialis cells containing different levels of AXT were mixed and underwent RADS. Those AXT-hyperproducing cells were sorted with an accuracy of 98.3%, an enrichment ratio of eight folds, and a throughput of ∼260 cells/min. Of the RADS-sorted cells, 92.7% remained alive and able to proliferate, which is equivalent to the unsorted cells. Thus, the RADS achieves a much higher throughput than existing RACS systems, preserves the vitality of cells, and facilitates seamless coupling with downstream manipulations such as single-cell sequencing and cultivation.

Axon-Axon Interactions Regulate Topographic Optic Tract Sorting via CYFIP2-Dependent WAVE Complex Function.

Science.gov (United States)

Cioni, Jean-Michel; Wong, Hovy Ho-Wai; Bressan, Dario; Kodama, Lay; Harris, William A; Holt, Christine E

2018-03-07

The axons of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are topographically sorted before they arrive at the optic tectum. This pre-target sorting, typical of axon tracts throughout the brain, is poorly understood. Here, we show that cytoplasmic FMR1-interacting proteins (CYFIPs) fulfill non-redundant functions in RGCs, with CYFIP1 mediating axon growth and CYFIP2 specifically involved in axon sorting. We find that CYFIP2 mediates homotypic and heterotypic contact-triggered fasciculation and repulsion responses between dorsal and ventral axons. CYFIP2 associates with transporting ribonucleoprotein particles in axons and regulates translation. Axon-axon contact stimulates CYFIP2 to move into growth cones where it joins the actin nucleating WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) in the periphery and regulates actin remodeling and filopodial dynamics. CYFIP2's function in axon sorting is mediated by its binding to the WRC but not its translational regulation. Together, these findings uncover CYFIP2 as a key regulatory link between axon-axon interactions, filopodial dynamics, and optic tract sorting. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Solving multi-objective job shop scheduling problems using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Piroozfard, Hamed; Wong, Kuan Yew

2015-05-01

The efforts of finding optimal schedules for the job shop scheduling problems are highly important for many real-world industrial applications. In this paper, a multi-objective based job shop scheduling problem by simultaneously minimizing makespan and tardiness is taken into account. The problem is considered to be more complex due to the multiple business criteria that must be satisfied. To solve the problem more efficiently and to obtain a set of non-dominated solutions, a meta-heuristic based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is presented. In addition, task based representation is used for solution encoding, and tournament selection that is based on rank and crowding distance is applied for offspring selection. Swapping and insertion mutations are employed to increase diversity of population and to perform intensive search. To evaluate the modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, a set of modified benchmarking job shop problems obtained from the OR-Library is used, and the results are considered based on the number of non-dominated solutions and quality of schedules obtained by the algorithm.

Decision trees with minimum average depth for sorting eight elements

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.

2015-11-19

We prove that the minimum average depth of a decision tree for sorting 8 pairwise different elements is equal to 620160/8!. We show also that each decision tree for sorting 8 elements, which has minimum average depth (the number of such trees is approximately equal to 8.548×10^326365), has also minimum depth. Both problems were considered by Knuth (1998). To obtain these results, we use tools based on extensions of dynamic programming which allow us to make sequential optimization of decision trees relative to depth and average depth, and to count the number of decision trees with minimum average depth.

Solvent effects on polymer sorting of carbon nanotubes with applications in printed electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huiliang; Hsieh, Bing; Jiménez-Osés, Gonzalo; Liu, Peng; Tassone, Christopher J; Diao, Ying; Lei, Ting; Houk, Kendall N; Bao, Zhenan

2015-01-07

Regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene) (P3AT) polymers have been previously reported for the selective, high-yield dispersion of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in toluene. Here, five alternative solvents are investigated, namely, tetrahydrofuran, decalin, tetralin, m-xylene, and o-xylene, for the dispersion of SWCNTs by poly(3-dodecylthiophene) P3DDT. The dispersion yield could be increased to over 40% using decalin or o-xylene as the solvents while maintaining high selectivity towards semiconducting SWCNTs. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in explicit solvents are used to explain the improved sorting yield. In addition, a general mechanism is proposed to explain the selective dispersion of semiconducting SWCNTs by conjugated polymers. The possibility to perform selective sorting of semiconducting SWCNTs using various solvents provides a greater diversity of semiconducting SWCNT ink properties, such as boiling point, viscosity, and surface tension as well as toxicity. The efficacy of these new semiconducting SWCNT inks is demonstrated by using the high boiling point and high viscosity solvent tetralin for inkjet-printed transistors, where solvent properties are more compatible with the inkjet printing head and improved droplet formation. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Passive circulating cell sorting by deformability using a microfluidic gradual filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Preira, P; Grandné, V; Forel, J-M; Gabriele, S; Camara, M; Theodoly, O

2013-01-07

The deformability of circulating leukocytes plays an important role in the physiopathology of several diseases like sepsis or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We present here a microfluidic method for the passive testing, sorting and separating of non-adherent cell populations by deformability. It consists of microfluidic sieves in series with pore sizes decreasing from the upstream to the downstream. The method capabilities are demonstrated with monocytic cell lines (THP-1) treated by Jasplakinolide (a stabilizer of polymerized actin), LatrunculinA (an inhibitor of actin polymerization), and with the plasma of patients suffering from ARDS. Simple sample injection with standard syringes and pumps makes the method readily adapted for experimentation in hospitals.

Image analysis to measure sorting and stratification applied to sand-gravel experiments

OpenAIRE

Orrú, C.

2016-01-01

The main objective of this project is to develop new measuring techniques for providing detailed data on sediment sorting suitable for sand-gravel laboratory experiments. Such data will be of aid in obtaining new insights on sorting mechanisms and improving prediction capabilities of morphodynamic models. Two measuring techniques have been developed. The first technique is aimed at measuring the size stratification of a sand-gravel deposit through combining image analysis and a sediment remov...

Complexity optimization and high-throughput low-latency hardware implementation of a multi-electrode spike-sorting algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Dragas, Jelena; Jackel, David; Hierlemann, Andreas; Franke, Felix

2015-03-01

Reliable real-time low-latency spike sorting with large data throughput is essential for studies of neural network dynamics and for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), in which the stimulation of neural networks is based on the networks' most recent activity. However, the majority of existing multi-electrode spike-sorting algorithms are unsuited for processing high quantities of simultaneously recorded data. Recording from large neuronal networks using large high-density electrode sets (thousands of electrodes) imposes high demands on the data-processing hardware regarding computational complexity and data transmission bandwidth; this, in turn, entails demanding requirements in terms of chip area, memory resources and processing latency. This paper presents computational complexity optimization techniques, which facilitate the use of spike-sorting algorithms in large multi-electrode-based recording systems. The techniques are then applied to a previously published algorithm, on its own, unsuited for large electrode set recordings. Further, a real-time low-latency high-performance VLSI hardware architecture of the modified algorithm is presented, featuring a folded structure capable of processing the activity of hundreds of neurons simultaneously. The hardware is reconfigurable “on-the-fly” and adaptable to the nonstationarities of neuronal recordings. By transmitting exclusively spike time stamps and/or spike waveforms, its real-time processing offers the possibility of data bandwidth and data storage reduction.

Downstream lightening and upward heavying, sorting of sediments of uniform grain size but differing in density

Science.gov (United States)

Viparelli, E.; Solari, L.; Hill, K. M.

2014-12-01

Downstream fining, i.e. the tendency for a gradual decrease in grain size in the downstream direction, has been observed and studied in alluvial rivers and in laboratory flumes. Laboratory experiments and field observations show that the vertical sorting pattern over a small Gilbert delta front is characterized by an upward fining profile, with preferential deposition of coarse particles in the lowermost part of the deposit. The present work is an attempt to answer the following questions. Are there analogous sorting patterns in mixtures of sediment particles having the same grain size but differing density? To investigate this, we performed experiments at the Hydrosystems Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the experiments a Gilbert delta formed and migrated downstream allowing for the study of transport and sorting processes on the surface and within the deposit. The experimental results show 1) preferential deposition of heavy particles in the upstream part of the deposit associated with a pattern of "downstream lightening"; and 2) a vertical sorting pattern over the delta front characterized by a pattern of "upward heavying" with preferential deposition of light particles in the lowermost part of the deposit. The observed downstream lightening is analogous of the downstream fining with preferential deposition of heavy (coarse) particles in the upstream part of the deposit. The observed upward heavying was unexpected because, considering the particle mass alone, the heavy (coarse) particles should have been preferentially deposited in the lowermost part of the deposit. Further, the application of classical fractional bedload transport relations suggests that in the case of mixtures of particles of uniform size and different densities equal mobility is not approached. We hypothesize that granular physics mechanisms traditionally associated with sheared granular flows may be responsible for the observed upward heavying and for the

Effort, symptom validity testing, performance validity testing and traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigler, Erin D

2014-01-01

To understand the neurocognitive effects of brain injury, valid neuropsychological test findings are paramount. This review examines the research on what has been referred to a symptom validity testing (SVT). Above a designated cut-score signifies a 'passing' SVT performance which is likely the best indicator of valid neuropsychological test findings. Likewise, substantially below cut-point performance that nears chance or is at chance signifies invalid test performance. Significantly below chance is the sine qua non neuropsychological indicator for malingering. However, the interpretative problems with SVT performance below the cut-point yet far above chance are substantial, as pointed out in this review. This intermediate, border-zone performance on SVT measures is where substantial interpretative challenges exist. Case studies are used to highlight the many areas where additional research is needed. Historical perspectives are reviewed along with the neurobiology of effort. Reasons why performance validity testing (PVT) may be better than the SVT term are reviewed. Advances in neuroimaging techniques may be key in better understanding the meaning of border zone SVT failure. The review demonstrates the problems with rigidity in interpretation with established cut-scores. A better understanding of how certain types of neurological, neuropsychiatric and/or even test conditions may affect SVT performance is needed.

Variability of plasma homovanillic acid over 13 months in patients with schizophrenia; relationship with the clinical response and the Wisconsin card sort test.

Science.gov (United States)

Zumárraga, Mercedes; González-Torres, Miguel A; Arrue, Aurora; Dávila, Ricardo; Dávila, Wendy; Inchausti, Lucía; Pérez-Cabeza, Lucía; Fernández-Rivas, Aránzazu; Bustamante, Sonia; Basterreche, Nieves; Guimón, José

2011-08-01

In the present study we have measured, on a monthly basis, the concentration of plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA) in schizophrenic patients during 13 months of their pharmacological treatment. The average pHVA values of each patient were within the range of 7.30-17.70 ng/ml and the coefficients of variation for each patient (CV %) were within the range of 13-33%. Half of the patients that showed higher pHVA CV% values also showed higher scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale at the beginning of the study, and improved more after 6 months, when compared to the remaining 50% with lower CV% values. There was no significant relationship between the scores of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test and the concentration or the CV% of the pHVA of each patient. A greater variability in the pHVA may be associated with a greater plasticity of the dopaminergic system and a better clinical response.

Electronic sorting of radioactive ores; Triage electronique des minerais radioactifs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandier, J.

1958-01-15

Electronic sorting of radioactive ores consists in passing the rock lumps, after sieving, one by one in front of radioactivity detectors; these detectors command electromechanical systems which class the ores according to their radioactivity level. This note sets on the state of progress of the work going on at the D.R.E.M.: use of scintillometers for γ-ray detection, with circuits carrying magnetic memories to improve their operation; results of laboratory and semi-industrial tests on several deposits; description of the material, data on the first factory project; notes on the financial returns of the process. A description is also given of the electronic sorting material used skip by skip for a first rough classification of the ores according to their content, as they leave the shaft. (author) [French] Le triage electronique des minerais radioactifs consiste a faire passer, apres criblage, les cailloux un par un devant des detecteurs de radioactivite; ces detecteurs commandent des systemes electromecaniques qui classent les minerais selon leur niveau de radioactivite. La note expose l'etat d'avancement des travaux en cours a la D.R.E.M: utilisation des scintillometres pour la detection des rayonnements γ, de circuits comportant des memoires magnetiques pour ameliorer le fonctionnement; resultats d'essais de laboratoire et semi-industriels sur plusieurs gisements; description du materiel, donnees sur le premier projet d'usine; notes sur la rentabilite du procede. Est egalement decrit le materiel de triage electronique skip par skip utilise pour une premiere classification grossiere des minerais selon leurs teneurs, des la sortie des puits. (auteur)

Sorting and quantifying orbital angular momentum of laser beams

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Schulze, C

2013-10-01

Full Text Available We present a novel tool for sorting the orbital angular momentum and to determine the orbital angular momentum density of laser beams, which is based on the use of correlation filters....

Stability-based sorting: The forgotten process behind (not only) biological evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Toman, Jan; Flegr, Jaroslav

2017-12-21

Natural selection is considered to be the main process that drives biological evolution. It requires selected entities to originate dependent upon one another by the means of reproduction or copying, and for the progeny to inherit the qualities of their ancestors. However, natural selection is a manifestation of a more general persistence principle, whose temporal consequences we propose to name "stability-based sorting" (SBS). Sorting based on static stability, i.e., SBS in its strict sense and usual conception, favours characters that increase the persistence of their holders and act on all material and immaterial entities. Sorted entities could originate independently from each other, are not required to propagate and need not exhibit heredity. Natural selection is a specific form of SBS-sorting based on dynamic stability. It requires some form of heredity and is based on competition for the largest difference between the speed of generating its own copies and their expiration. SBS in its strict sense and selection thus have markedly different evolutionary consequences that are stressed in this paper. In contrast to selection, which is opportunistic, SBS is able to accumulate even momentarily detrimental characters that are advantageous for the long-term persistence of sorted entities. However, it lacks the amplification effect based on the preferential propagation of holders of advantageous characters. Thus, it works slower than selection and normally is unable to create complex adaptations. From a long-term perspective, SBS is a decisive force in evolution-especially macroevolution. SBS offers a new explanation for numerous evolutionary phenomena, including broad distribution and persistence of sexuality, altruistic behaviour, horizontal gene transfer, patterns of evolutionary stasis, planetary homeostasis, increasing ecosystem resistance to disturbances, and the universal decline of disparity in the evolution of metazoan lineages. SBS acts on all levels in

Spent fuel metal storage cask performance testing and future spent fuel concrete module performance testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKinnon, M.A.; Creer, J.M.

1988-10-01

REA-2023 Gesellshaft fur Nuklear Service (GNS) CASTOR-V/21, Transnuclear TN-24P, and Westinghouse MC-10 metal storage casks, have been performance tested under the guidance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory to determine their thermal and shielding performance. The REA-2023 cask was tested under Department of Energy (DOE) sponsorship at General Electric's facilities in Morris, Illinois, using BWR spent fuel from the Cooper Reactor. The other three casks were tested under a cooperative agreement between Virginia Power Company and DOE at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) by EGandG Idaho, Inc., using intact spent PWR fuel from the Surry reactors. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) made contributions to both programs. A summary of the various cask designs and the results of the performance tests is presented. The cask designs include: solid and liquid neutron shields; lead, steel, and nodular cast iron gamma shields; stainless steel, aluminum, and copper baskets; and borated materials for criticality control. 4 refs., 8 figs., 6 tabs

Interim report spent nuclear fuel retrieval system fuel handling development testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ketner, G.L.; Meeuwsen, P.V.; Potter, J.D.; Smalley, J.T.; Baker, C.P.; Jaquish, W.R.

1997-06-01

Fuel handling development testing was performed in support of the Fuel Retrieval System (FRS) Sub-Project at the Hanford Site. The project will retrieve spent nuclear fuel, clean and remove fuel from canisters, repackage fuel into baskets, and load fuel into a multi-canister overpack (MCO) for vacuum drying and interim dry storage. The FRS is required to retrieve basin fuel canisters, clean fuel elements sufficiently of uranium corrosion products (or sludge), empty fuel from canisters, sort debris and scrap from whole elements, and repackage fuel in baskets in preparation for MCO loading. The purpose of fuel handling development testing was to examine the systems ability to accomplish mission activities, optimization of equipment layouts for initial process definition, identification of special needs/tools, verification of required design changes to support performance specification development, and validation of estimated activity times/throughput. The test program was set up to accomplish this purpose through cold development testing using simulated and prototype equipment; cold demonstration testing using vendor expertise and systems; and graphical computer modeling to confirm feasibility and throughput. To test the fuel handling process, a test mockup that represented the process table was fabricated and installed. The test mockup included a Schilling HV series manipulator that was prototypic of the Schilling Hydra manipulator. The process table mockup included the tipping station, sorting area, disassembly and inspection zones, fuel staging areas, and basket loading stations. The test results clearly indicate that the Schilling Hydra arm cannot effectively perform the fuel handling tasks required unless it is attached to some device that can impart vertical translation, azimuth rotation, and X-Y translation. Other test results indicate the importance of camera locations and capabilities, and of the jaw and end effector tool design. 5 refs., 35 figs., 3 tabs.

Insight into economies of scale for waste packaging sorting plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cimpan, Ciprian; Wenzel, Henrik; Maul, Anja

2015-01-01

of economies of scale and discussed complementary relations occurring between capacity size, technology level and operational practice. Processing costs (capital and operational expenditure) per unit waste input were found to decrease from above 100 € for small plants with a basic technology level to 60......This contribution presents the results of a techno-economic analysis performed for German Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) which sort commingled lightweight packaging waste (consisting of plastics, metals, beverage cartons and other composite packaging). The study addressed the importance......-70 € for large plants employing advanced process flows. Typical operational practice, often riddled with inadequate process parameters was compared with planned or designed operation. The former was found to significantly influence plant efficiency and therefore possible revenue streams from the sale of output...

THE STUDY OF SELF-BALANCED POTATO SORTING MACHINE WITH LINEAR INDUCTION DRIVE

OpenAIRE

Linenko A. V.; Baynazarov V. G.; Kamalov T. I.

2016-01-01

In the article we have considered the self-balanced potato sorting machine differing from existing designs of self-balanced potato sorting machines with an oscillatory electric drive. That drive uses a linear induction motor. As the counterbalancing device, the method of the duplicating mechanism is applied. The duplicating mechanism is a specular reflection of the main working body, and also participates in technological process. Its application in the drive of machine allows not only to inc...

Automatic Color Sorting Machine Using TCS230 Color Sensor And PIC Microcontroller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kunhimohammed C K

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Sorting of products is a very difficult industrial process. Continuous manual sorting creates consistency issues. This paper describes a working prototype designed for automatic sorting of objects based on the color. TCS230 sensor was used to detect the color of the product and the PIC16F628A microcontroller was used to control the overall process. The identification of the color is based on the frequency analysis of the output of TCS230 sensor. Two conveyor belts were used, each controlled by separate DC motors. The first belt is for placing the product to be analyzed by the color sensor, and the second belt is for moving the container, having separated compartments, in order to separate the products. The experimental results promise that the prototype will fulfill the needs for higher production and precise quality in the field of automation.

European project BOOSTER: how to sort victims of a nuclear accident?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robbe, M.F.; Gmar, M.; Schoepff, V.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the BOOSTER project is to develop tools allowing victims to be sorted quickly according to their level of irradiation. The fastness of the sorting is very important as a nuclear accident or a terrorist attack involving a dirty bomb is likely to cause numerous casualties. A preliminary sorting can be made with a portable walk-through gamma detector that allows the detection of contaminated victims. 4 technologies are proposed for assessing in less than 20 minutes the level of irradiation of a victim: the first method that is based on the analysis of the phosphorylation of the H2AX protein, allows the determination of the irradiation level from the analysis of a drop of blood. The second method allows the determination of the radionuclides present in a drop of blood or urine. The third method uses the thermo-luminescent properties of SMD resistances present in mobile phones to determine the level of irradiation. The fourth method is based on a portable low-background gamma spectrometer able to study environmental and biological samples on the spot. (A.C.)

Size-based cell sorting with a resistive pulse sensor and an electromagnetic pump in a microfluidic chip.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yongxin; Li, Mengqi; Pan, Xinxiang; Wang, Qi; Li, Dongqing

2015-02-01

An electrokinetic microfluidic chip is developed to detect and sort target cells by size from human blood samples. Target-cell detection is achieved by a differential resistive pulse sensor (RPS) based on the size difference between the target cell and other cells. Once a target cell is detected, the detected RPS signal will automatically actuate an electromagnetic pump built in a microchannel to push the target cell into a collecting channel. This method was applied to automatically detect and sort A549 cells and T-lymphocytes from a peripheral fingertip blood sample. The viability of A549 cells sorted in the collecting well was verified by Hoechst33342 and propidium iodide staining. The results show that as many as 100 target cells per minute can be sorted out from the sample solution and thus is particularly suitable for sorting very rare target cells, such as circulating tumor cells. The actuation of the electromagnetic valve has no influence on RPS cell detection and the consequent cell-sorting process. The viability of the collected A549 cell is not impacted by the applied electric field when the cell passes the RPS detection area. The device described in this article is simple, automatic, and label-free and has wide applications in size-based rare target cell sorting for medical diagnostics. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Development of technics for separation and sorting system of different parts of field plants; Peltokasvien eri osien erottelu- ja lajittelutekniikoiden kehittaeminen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lindh, T.; Kallio, E.; Taipale, R.; Leinonen, A.

1996-12-31

The aim of the research is to construct a segregation concept for an integrated method, by which it is possible to produce fiber fraction for pulping industry and byproduct fraction for energy production of the field plants to be processed. The starting point of the concept development was, that the method consists of the plant material processing phase, in which different plant components are segregated from each other, and a sorting phase in which the plant components are divided into different fractions on the basis of the use. Following topics were studied in the first year of this two year research: properties of spring-harvested reed canary grass and the component of it from the point of view of segregation, mechanical dry-processing methods for segregation of plant components from each other and sorting methods, by which the pulp fraction and by-product fraction are separated from each other. Chopping, crushing and milling have been studied as alternatives for processing. The particle size distribution of the produced material has been estimated. Sorting tests, based on air classification, have been made. Property analyses, such as ash content, have been made for different particle classes, by which the most suitable particle size class for sorting was determined. Processing and sorting research of chopped reed canary grass will be continued in 1996. Technical/economical analyses will be made of the costs of the separator by taking the alternatives, in which the separator unit operates at the farm or at the mill, into account. The final separation concept will be made using the results obtained in the experimental researches and cost analyses

Evaluation of motility, membrane status and DNA integrity of frozen-thawed bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) spermatozoa after sex-sorting and recryopreservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Montano, G A; Kraemer, D C; Love, C C; Robeck, T R; O'Brien, J K

2012-06-01

Artificial insemination (AI) with sex-sorted frozen-thawed spermatozoa has led to enhanced management of ex situ bottlenose dolphin populations. Extended distance of animals from the sorting facility can be overcome by the use of frozen-thawed, sorted and recryopreserved spermatozoa. Although one bottlenose dolphin calf had been born using sexed frozen-thawed spermatozoa derived from frozen semen, a critical evaluation of in vitro sperm quality is needed to justify the routine use of such samples in AI programs. Sperm motility parameters and plasma membrane integrity were influenced by stage of the sex-sorting process, sperm type (non-sorted and sorted) and freezing method (straw and directional) (P0.05) at 24 h. The viability of sorted spermatozoa was higher (Pdolphin spermatozoa undergoing cryopreservation, sorting and recryopreservation are of adequate quality for use in AI.

10 CFR 26.168 - Blind performance testing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Blind performance testing. 26.168 Section 26.168 Energy... and Human Services § 26.168 Blind performance testing. (a) Each licensee and other entity shall submit blind performance test samples to the HHS-certified laboratory. (1) During the initial 90-day period of...

Oscillating microbubbles for selective particle sorting in acoustic microfluidic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Priscilla; Xu, Lin; Neild, Adrian

2012-05-01

In this study, acoustic waves were used to excite a microbubble for selective particle trapping and sorting. Excitation of the bubble at its volume resonance, as necessary to drive strong fluid microstreaming, resulted in the particles being either selectively attracted to the bubble or continuing to follow the local microstreamlines. The operating principle exploited two acoustic phenomena acting on the particle suspension: the drag force arising from the acoustic microstreaming and the secondary Bjerknes force, i.e. the attractive radiation force produced between an oscillating bubble and a non-buoyant particle. It was also found that standing wave fields within the fluid chamber could be used to globally align bubbles and particles for local particle sorting by the bubble.

Influence of retrospective sorting on image quality in respiratory correlated computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guckenberger, Matthias; Weininger, Markus; Wilbert, Juergen; Richter, Anne; Baier, Kurt; Krieger, Thomas; Polat, Buelent; Flentje, Michael

2007-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of retrospective sorting on image quality in four-dimensional respiratory correlated CT. Materials and methods: Twelve patients with intrapulmonary tumors were examined using a 24-slice CT-scanner in helical mode. Images were reconstructed after retrospective sorting based on five algorithms: amplitude-based sorting with definition of peak-exhalation and peak-inhalation separately/locally for all breathing cycles (LAS) and globally for the time of image acquisition (GAS). Drifts of the breathing signal were corrected in dc-GAS. In phase-based (PS) and cycle-based (CS) algorithm the projections were sorted relative to time. Motion artifacts were scored by a radiologist. The tumor volumes were measured using automatic image segmentation. Results: Averaged over all breathing phases, LAS and PS achieved significantly improved image quality and lowest tumor volume variability compared to GAS, dc-GAS and CS. Imaging redundancy of 5 s was not sufficient for GAS and dc-GAS: missing corresponding amplitude positions in one or several breathing cycles resulted in incomplete reconstruction of peak-ventilation images in 11/12 and 10/12 patients with GAS and dc-GAS, respectively. Limiting the analysis to mid-ventilation phases showed GAS and dc-GAS as the most reliable algorithms. Conclusions: LAS and PS are suggested as a compromise between image quality and radiation dose

IB-LBM simulation on blood cell sorting with a micro-fence structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Qiang; Xu, Yuan-Qing; Tian, Fang-bao; Gao, Tian-xin; Tang, Xiao-ying; Zu, Wen-Hong

2014-01-01

A size-based blood cell sorting model with a micro-fence structure is proposed in the frame of immersed boundary and lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM). The fluid dynamics is obtained by solving the discrete lattice Boltzmann equation, and the cells motion and deformation are handled by the immersed boundary method. A micro-fence consists of two parallel slope post rows which are adopted to separate red blood cells (RBCs) from white blood cells (WBCs), in which the cells to be separated are transported one after another by the flow into the passageway between the two post rows. Effected by the cross flow, RBCs are schemed to get through the pores of the nether post row since they are smaller and more deformable compared with WBCs. WBCs are required to move along the nether post row till they get out the micro-fence. Simulation results indicate that for a fix width of pores, the slope angle of the post row plays an important role in cell sorting. The cells mixture can not be separated properly in a small slope angle, while obvious blockages by WBCs will take place to disturb the continuous cell sorting in a big slope angle. As an optimal result, an adaptive slope angle is found to sort RBCs form WBCs correctly and continuously.

An algorithm for intelligent sorting of CT-related dose parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Tessa S.; Zimmerman, Stefan L.; Steingal, Scott; Boonn, William W.; Kim, Woojin

2011-03-01

Imaging centers nationwide are seeking innovative means to record and monitor CT-related radiation dose in light of multiple instances of patient over-exposure to medical radiation. As a solution, we have developed RADIANCE, an automated pipeline for extraction, archival and reporting of CT-related dose parameters. Estimation of whole-body effective dose from CT dose-length product (DLP)-an indirect estimate of radiation dose-requires anatomy-specific conversion factors that cannot be applied to total DLP, but instead necessitate individual anatomy-based DLPs. A challenge exists because the total DLP reported on a dose sheet often includes multiple separate examinations (e.g., chest CT followed by abdominopelvic CT). Furthermore, the individual reported series DLPs may not be clearly or consistently labeled. For example, Arterial could refer to the arterial phase of the triple liver CT or the arterial phase of a CT angiogram. To address this problem, we have designed an intelligent algorithm to parse dose sheets for multi-series CT examinations and correctly separate the total DLP into its anatomic components. The algorithm uses information from the departmental PACS to determine how many distinct CT examinations were concurrently performed. Then, it matches the number of distinct accession numbers to the series that were acquired, and anatomically matches individual series DLPs to their appropriate CT examinations. This algorithm allows for more accurate dose analytics, but there remain instances where automatic sorting is not feasible. To ultimately improve radiology patient care, we must standardize series names and exam names to unequivocally sort exams by anatomy and correctly estimate whole-body effective dose.

An algorithm for intelligent sorting of CT-related dose parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Tessa S; Zimmerman, Stefan L; Steingall, Scott R; Boonn, William W; Kim, Woojin

2012-02-01

Imaging centers nationwide are seeking innovative means to record and monitor computed tomography (CT)-related radiation dose in light of multiple instances of patient overexposure to medical radiation. As a solution, we have developed RADIANCE, an automated pipeline for extraction, archival, and reporting of CT-related dose parameters. Estimation of whole-body effective dose from CT dose length product (DLP)--an indirect estimate of radiation dose--requires anatomy-specific conversion factors that cannot be applied to total DLP, but instead necessitate individual anatomy-based DLPs. A challenge exists because the total DLP reported on a dose sheet often includes multiple separate examinations (e.g., chest CT followed by abdominopelvic CT). Furthermore, the individual reported series DLPs may not be clearly or consistently labeled. For example, "arterial" could refer to the arterial phase of the triple liver CT or the arterial phase of a CT angiogram. To address this problem, we have designed an intelligent algorithm to parse dose sheets for multi-series CT examinations and correctly separate the total DLP into its anatomic components. The algorithm uses information from the departmental PACS to determine how many distinct CT examinations were concurrently performed. Then, it matches the number of distinct accession numbers to the series that were acquired and anatomically matches individual series DLPs to their appropriate CT examinations. This algorithm allows for more accurate dose analytics, but there remain instances where automatic sorting is not feasible. To ultimately improve radiology patient care, we must standardize series names and exam names to unequivocally sort exams by anatomy and correctly estimate whole-body effective dose.

Job Sorting in African Labor Markets

OpenAIRE

Marcel Fafchamps; Mans Soderbom; Najy Benhassine

2006-01-01

Using matched employer-employee data from eleven African countries, we investigate if there is a job sorting in African labor markets. We find that much of the wage gap correlated with education is driven by selection across occupations and firms. This is consistent with educated workers being more effective at complex tasks like labor management. In all countries the education wage gap widens rapidly at high low levels of education. Most of the education wage gap at low levels of education c...

Performance Testing of Cutting Fluids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Belluco, Walter

The importance of cutting fluid performance testing has increased with documentation requirements of new cutting fluid formulations based on more sustainable products, as well as cutting with minimum quantity of lubrication and dry cutting. Two sub-problems have to be solved: i) which machining...... tests feature repeatability, reproducibility and sensitivity to cutting fluids, and ii) to what extent results of one test ensure relevance to a wider set of machining situations. The present work is aimed at assessing the range of validity of the different testing methods, investigating correlation...... within the whole range of operations, materials, cutting fluids, operating conditions, etc. Cutting fluid performance was evaluated in turning, drilling, reaming and tapping, and with respect to tool life, cutting forces, chip formation and product quality (dimensional accuracy and surface integrity...

Mechanism for Particle Transport and Size Sorting via Low-Frequency Vibrations

Science.gov (United States)

Sherrit, Stewart; Scott, James S.; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Badescu, Mircea; Bao, Xiaoqi

2010-01-01

There is a need for effective sample handling tools to deliver and sort particles for analytical instruments that are planned for use in future NASA missions. Specifically, a need exists for a compact mechanism that allows transporting and sieving particle sizes of powdered cuttings and soil grains that may be acquired by sampling tools such as a robotic scoop or drill. The required tool needs to be low mass and compact to operate from such platforms as a lander or rover. This technology also would be applicable to sample handling when transporting samples to analyzers and sorting particles by size.