496,015 research outputs found
Constraint-Based Causal Discovery using Partial Ancestral Graphs in the presence of Cycles
While feedback loops are known to play important roles in many complex
systems, their existence is ignored in a large part of the causal discovery
literature, as systems are typically assumed to be acyclic from the outset.
When applying causal discovery algorithms designed for the acyclic setting on
data generated by a system that involves feedback, one would not expect to
obtain correct results. In this work, we show that---surprisingly---the output
of the Fast Causal Inference (FCI) algorithm is correct if it is applied to
observational data generated by a system that involves feedback. More
specifically, we prove that for observational data generated by a simple and
-faithful Structural Causal Model (SCM), FCI is sound and complete, and
can be used to consistently estimate (i) the presence and absence of causal
relations, (ii) the presence and absence of direct causal relations, (iii) the
absence of confounders, and (iv) the absence of specific cycles in the causal
graph of the SCM. We extend these results to constraint-based causal discovery
algorithms that exploit certain forms of background knowledge, including the
causally sufficient setting (e.g., the PC algorithm) and the Joint Causal
Inference setting (e.g., the FCI-JCI algorithm).Comment: Major revision. To appear in Proceedings of the 36 th Conference on
Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), PMLR volume 124, 202
Relating emotional intelligence to academic achievement among university students in Barbados
This study investigated the relationships between emotional intelligence and academic
achievement among 151 undergraduate psychology students at The University of the
West Indies (UWI), Barbados, making use of Barchard (2001)’s Emotional Intelligence
Scale and an Academic Achievement Scale. Findings revealed significant positive
correlations between academic achievement and six of the emotional intelligence
components, and a negative correlation with negative expressivity. The emotional
intelligence components also jointly contributed 48% of the variance in academic
achievement. Attending to emotions was the best predictor of academic achievement
while positive expressivity, negative expressivity and empathic concern were other
significant predictors. Emotion-based decision-making, responsive joy and responsive
distress did not make any significant relative contribution to academic achievement,
indicating that academic achievement is only partially predicted by emotional
intelligence. These results were discussed in the context of the influence of emotional
intelligence on university students’ academic achievement.peer-reviewe
Multi-layer Architecture For Storing Visual Data Based on WCF and Microsoft SQL Server Database
In this paper we present a novel architecture for storing visual data.
Effective storing, browsing and searching collections of images is one of the
most important challenges of computer science. The design of architecture for
storing such data requires a set of tools and frameworks such as SQL database
management systems and service-oriented frameworks. The proposed solution is
based on a multi-layer architecture, which allows to replace any component
without recompilation of other components. The approach contains five
components, i.e. Model, Base Engine, Concrete Engine, CBIR service and
Presentation. They were based on two well-known design patterns: Dependency
Injection and Inverse of Control. For experimental purposes we implemented the
SURF local interest point detector as a feature extractor and -means
clustering as indexer. The presented architecture is intended for content-based
retrieval systems simulation purposes as well as for real-world CBIR tasks.Comment: Accepted for the 14th International Conference on Artificial
Intelligence and Soft Computing, ICAISC, June 14-18, 2015, Zakopane, Polan
Reduced hippocampal subfield volumes and memory performance in preterm children with and without germinal matrix intraventricular hemorrhage.
Preterm newborns with germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GM-IVH) are at a higher risk of evidencing neurodevelopmental alterations. Present study aimed to explore the long-term efects that GM-IVH have on hippocampal subfelds, and their correlates with memory. The sample consisted of 58 participants, including 36 preterm-born (16 with GM-IVH and 20 without neonatal brain injury), and 22 full-term children aged between 6 and 15 years old. All participants underwent a cognitive assessment and magnetic resonance imaging study. GM-IVH children evidenced lower scores in Full Intelligence Quotient and memory measures compared to their low-risk preterm and full-term peers. High-risk preterm children with GM-IVH evidenced signifcantly lower total hippocampal volumes bilaterally and hippocampal subfeld volumes compared to both low-risk preterm and full-term groups. Finally, signifcant positive correlations between memory and hippocampal subfeld volumes were only found in preterm participants together; memory and the right CA-feld correlation remained signifcant after Bonferroni correction was applied (p= .002). In conclusion, memory alterations and both global and regional volumetric reductions in the hippocampus were found to be specifcally related to a preterm sample with GM-IVH. Nevertheless, results also suggest that prematurity per se has a long-lasting impact on the association between the right CA-feld volume and memory during childhood
The role of trait emotional intelligence and social and emotional skills in students’ emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties : a study of Greek adolescents’ perceptions
The emergence of the Trait Emotional Intelligence construct shifted the interest in
personality research to the investigation of the effect of global personality characteristics
on behaviour. A second body of research in applied settings, the Social and Emotional
Learning movement, emphasized the cultivation of emotional and social skills for
positive relationships in a school environment. In this paper we investigate the role of
both personality traits and social and emotional skills, in the occurrence of emotional and
behavioural strengths and difficulties, according to adolescent students’ self-perceptions.
Five hundred and fifty-nine students from state secondary schools in Greece, aged 12-14
years old, completed The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Adolescent Short
Form, The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters, and The Strengths and
Difficulties Questionnaire. It was found that students with higher Trait Emotional
Intelligence and stronger social and emotional skills were less likely to present
emotional, conduct, hyperactivity and peer difficulties and more likely to present
prosocial behaviour. Gender was a significant factor for emotional difficulties and grade
for peer difficulties. The paper describes the underlying mechanisms of students’
emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties, and provides practical implications
for educators to improve the quality of students’ lives in schools.peer-reviewe
3D medical volume segmentation using hybrid multiresolution statistical approaches
This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright © 2010 S AlZu’bi and A Amira.3D volume segmentation is the process of partitioning voxels into 3D regions (subvolumes) that represent meaningful physical entities which are more meaningful and easier to analyze and usable in future applications. Multiresolution Analysis (MRA) enables the preservation of an image according to certain levels of resolution or blurring. Because of multiresolution quality, wavelets have been deployed in image compression, denoising, and classification. This paper focuses on the implementation of efficient medical volume segmentation techniques. Multiresolution analysis including 3D wavelet and ridgelet has been used for feature extraction which can be modeled using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to segment the volume slices. A comparison study has been carried out to evaluate 2D and 3D techniques which reveals that 3D methodologies can accurately detect the Region Of Interest (ROI). Automatic segmentation has been achieved using HMMs where the ROI is detected accurately but suffers a long computation time for its calculations
The assessment of trait emotional intelligence: psychometric characteristics of the TEIQue-full form in a large Italian adult sample
Trait Emotional Intelligence (or trait emotional self-efficacy) is a constellation of emotional perceptions assessed through questionnaires and rating scales (Petrides et al., 2007b). This paper examined the psychometric features of the Trait Emotional Questionnaire Full Form (TEIQue-FF; Petrides, 2009b) in the Italian context. Incremental validity in the prediction of depression and anxiety was also tested with respect to the Big Five. Participants were 1343 individuals balanced for gender (690 females and 653 males) whose mean age was 29.65 years (SD = 13.64, range 17-74 years). They completed a questionnaire battery containing the TEIQue and measures of the Big Five, depression, and anxiety (both trait and state). Results indicated that the performance of the TEIQue-FF in the Italian context was comparable to the original United Kingdom version as regards its reliability and factor structure. Moreover, the instrument showed incremental validity in the prediction of depression and state-trait anxiety after controlling for the Big Five
Antismoking campaigns’ perception and gender differences: a comparison among EEG Indices
Human factors’ aim is to understand and evaluate the interactions between people and tasks, technologies, and environment. Among human factors, it is possible then to include the subjective reaction to external stimuli, due to individual’s characteristics and states of mind. These processes are also involved in the perception of antismoking public service announcements (PSAs), the main tool for governments to contrast the first cause of preventable deaths in the world: tobacco addiction. In the light of that, in the present article, it has been investigated through the comparison of different electroencephalographic (EEG) indices a typical item known to be able of influencing PSA perception, that is gender. In order to investigate the neurophysiological underpinnings of such different perception, we tested two PSAs: one with a female character and one with a male character. Furthermore, the experimental sample was divided into men and women, as well as smokers and nonsmokers. The employed EEG indices were the mental engagement (ME: the ratio between beta activity and the sum of alpha and theta activity); the approach/withdrawal (AW: the frontal alpha asymmetry in the alpha band); and the frontal theta activity and the spectral asymmetry index (SASI: the ratio between beta minus theta and beta plus theta). Results suggested that the ME and the AW presented an opposite trend, with smokers showing higher ME and lower AW than nonsmokers. The ME and the frontal theta also evidenced a statistically significant interaction between the kind of the PSA and the gender of the observers; specifically, women showed higher ME and frontal theta activity for the male character PSA. This study then supports the usefulness of the ME and frontal theta for purposes of PSAs targeting on the basis of gender issues and of the ME and the AW and for purposes of PSAs targeting on the basis of smoking habits
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