Morphometric measurements of the thalamus and interthalamic adhesion by MRI in the South-East of the Caspian Sea border

Objectives: To assess the gender differences and the age-related morphometrical changes of the thalamus, interthalamic adhesion, and the right-left differences of the thalamus of the native Fars ethnic group in the South-East of the Caspian Sea border Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 97 patients (44 males and 53 females) without neuropathologic changes and symptoms admitted to the Kowsar MRI center in the South-East of the Caspian Sea border (Gorgan City, Northern Iran) in 2006. Thalamic dimensions were measured by MR images. The vertical lengths of the thalami and interthalamic adhesion were measured in the coronal sections, while the anteroposterior and transverse length measurements of the thalami and interthalamic adhesion were obtained in the axial plane. The data were assessed by SPSS 11.5 statistics program. Results: Thalamic dimensions were longer in males. There was no significant correlation between size of thalamus and interthalamic adhesion regarding age; however, we found that thalamic dimensions increase a little with age until the 31-40 years group, and decreased after that. There was no correlation between age and gender groups and dimensions of the interthalamic adhesion. Conclusion: This study showed that there are no significant differences between right and left sides of the thalamus, however, the left-side thalamic dimensions were a little longer than the right

Human age estimation performance based on facial images: Potential implications for refugee processing

This item is only available electronically.Government agencies responsible for refugee processing are often challenged to develop an accurate identification profile for asylum seekers when reliable documentation is unavailable. As processing and support systems are designed differently for children and adults, it is critical to determine an accurate age estimate. However, current methodologies to estimate an individual’s age lack accuracy, verification or violate ethical standards, presenting the need to explore an alternative age estimation procedure. The present study aimed to explore human performance of age estimation, using facial images, for refugee processing purposes. As a within-subjects design, participants (N = 46) undertook a perceptual task to estimate the age of both children (11–17 years) and adults (18–24 years) from a facial image. Estimates were more accurate (i.e., closer to the true age) for children than for adults, although there was a consistent tendency to overestimate the true age. If this methodology was utilised for refugee processing, trends of over-, as opposed to under-estimation, increase the likelihood of a child being incorrectly labelled as an adult, than an adult labelled as a child. Future research could aim to further develop a task performance baseline by defining group-specific biases of estimators and estimations. The results of this study provide government agencies with an initial understanding of task performance and the potential biases in human perception.Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 201

Businesswomen in Germany and Their Performance by Ethnicity: It Pays to Be Self-Employed

In this paper I assert that the entrepreneurial spirit can also exist in salaried jobs. I study the determinants of wages and the labor market success of two kinds of entrepreneurial women in Germany - self-employed and salaried businesswomen - and investigate whether ethnicity is important in these challenging jobs. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel I estimate selection adjusted wage regressions for both types of businesswomen by country of origin. I find that self-employment offers businesswomen a lucrative avenue with higher monetary rewards, albeit for a shorter spell. If salaried businesswomen went into self-employment, they would receive considerably higher wages and for at least 30 years. However, if self-employed businesswomen went into salaried jobs, their wages would decline, suggesting that it is the self-employment sector that offers better opportunities and monetary success. Self-employed women in Germany fare well and most importantly, success does not depend on their ethnicity.Businesswomen, Entrepreneurship, Self-employment, Economics of Minorities, Immigrants wage differentials

Businesswomen in Germany and Their Performance by Ethnicity: It Pays to Be Self-Employed

In this paper I assert that the entrepreneurial spirit can also exist in salaried jobs. I study the determinants of wages and the labor market success of two kinds of entrepreneurial women in Germany – self-employed and salaried businesswomen – and investigate whether ethnicity is important in these challenging jobs. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel I estimate selection adjusted wage regressions for both types of businesswomen by country of origin. I find that self-employment offers businesswomen a lucrative avenue with higher monetary rewards, albeit for a shorter spell. If salaried businesswomen went into self-employment, they would receive considerably higher wages and for at least 30 years. However, if self-employed businesswomen went into salaried jobs, their wages would decline, suggesting that it is the self-employment sector that offers better opportunities and monetary success. Self-employed women in Germany fare well and most importantly, success does not depend on their ethnicity.businesswomen, entrepreneurship, self-employment, economics of minorities, immigrants wage differentials

Inequality, Interactional Complexity, and Violent Delinquency: An Exploration of Structural, Family, and Individual Considerations

Over three decades have passed since the defeat of Jim Crow, yet the United States continues to be a dangerous place to live for many poor and racial/ethnic minority citizens. Unlike the brutality witnessed and endured by subordinate racial groups during the majority of this country’s existence, participants in violent encounters often come from the same age, gender, class, and race groupings. To make sense of these patterns, I do two things. First, I offer a critical examination of previous work and present a conceptual frame that is more specific with regard to racial stratification and its relationship with violent delinquency. Second, I analyze data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to highlight the interactional complexity of the relationship between stratification and violence. The results from robust regression analysis show violence to be the product of a complex process whereby social-environment factors combine to influence individual behavior in race- and gender-specific ways. These findings raise questions about the theoretical underpinnings of research in his area, and encourage us to think differently about linkages between race and violence.

Gender and Ethnicity Classification Using Partial Face in Biometric Applications

As the number of biometric applications increases, the use of non-ideal information such as images which are not strictly controlled, images taken covertly, or images where the main interest is partially occluded, also increases. Face images are a specific example of this. In these non-ideal instances, other information, such as gender and ethnicity, can be determined to narrow the search space and/or improve the recognition results. Some research exists for gender classification using partial-face images, but there is little research involving ethnic classifications on such images. Few datasets have had the ethnic diversity needed and sufficient subjects for each ethnicity to perform this evaluation. Research is also lacking on how gender and ethnicity classifications on partial face are impacted by age. If the extracted gender and ethnicity information is to be integrated into a larger system, some measure of the reliability of the extracted information is needed. This study will provide an analysis of gender and ethnicity classification on large datasets captured by non-researchers under day-to-day operations using texture, color, and shape features extracted from partial-face regions. This analysis will allow for a greater understanding of the limitations of various facial regions for gender and ethnicity classifications. These limitations will guide the integration of automatically extracted partial-face gender and ethnicity information with a biometric face application in order to improve recognition under non-ideal circumstances. Overall, the results from this work showed that reliable gender and ethnic classification can be achieved from partial face images. Different regions of the face hold varying amount of gender and ethnicity information. For machine classification, the upper face regions hold more ethnicity information while the lower face regions hold more gender information. All regions were impacted by age, but the eyes were impacted the most in texture and color. The shape of the nose changed more with respect to age than any of the other regions

The Social Dimension in Selected Candidate Countries in the Balkans: Country Report on Croatia. ENEPRI Research Reports No. 39, 14 December 2007

The European Commission awarded a contract in November 2005 to a consortium composed of t TARKI (Social Research Institute in Hungary), CASE (Center for Social and Economic Research in Poland) and CEPS to analyse the socio-economic developments and the process of structural reforms in what were then four candidate countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey. The objective was to identify the major challenges in the current demographic, social and economic context that could be considered relevant in determining the capacity of these countries to function in the European Union. This study presents the findings for Croatia and consists of an analytical section and a statistical annex. The other country reports and synthesis report are published separately in this same series