3,660 research outputs found
The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK
From introduction: "For more than ten years the polygraph has been the subject of research and
increased application with sex off enders in the United Kingdom. However, it
is not without its detractors (Ben-Shakhar, 2008; Lykken, 1998; Meijer, Verschuere,
Merckelbach and Crombez, 2008). Indeed, Craig (2011), described
it as “a lightning rod for controversy” (p. 59), principally because of ongoing
disputes with regard to its scientifi c acceptability (Grubin, 2008), its accuracy/
validity (Madsen, 2009) and its ethical standing (Vess, 2010)."(...
Predicting criticality and dynamic range in complex networks: effects of topology
The collective dynamics of a network of coupled excitable systems in response
to an external stimulus depends on the topology of the connections in the
network. Here we develop a general theoretical approach to study the effects of
network topology on dynamic range, which quantifies the range of stimulus
intensities resulting in distinguishable network responses. We find that the
largest eigenvalue of the weighted network adjacency matrix governs the network
dynamic range. Specifically, a largest eigenvalue equal to one corresponds to a
critical regime with maximum dynamic range. We gain deeper insight on the
effects of network topology using a nonlinear analysis in terms of additional
spectral properties of the adjacency matrix. We find that homogeneous networks
can reach a higher dynamic range than those with heterogeneous topology. Our
analysis, confirmed by numerical simulations, generalizes previous studies in
terms of the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
The legal framework for private sector development in a transitional economy : the case of Poland
The economies of Central and Eastern Europe are in the midst of a historic transition from central planning and state ownership to development of a market-driven private sector. This transition requires comprehensive changes in"rules of the game"- including the legal framework for economic activity. A market economy presupposes a set of property rights and a system of laws or customs that allow the exchange of those rights. The legal framework in a market economy has at least three basic functions: defining the universe of property rights; setting the rules for entry into and exit from productive activities; and setting the rules of market exchange. These legal tasks are accomplished by areas of law such as: company, foreign investment, bankruptcy, contract and competition law. Poland has a rich legal tradition dating from pre-socialist times, which was suppressed but not eliminated during its forty years of socialism. This tradition is being revised as the country moves toward a private market economy. The current legal framework in Poland closely follows other continental jurisdictions and has a clear and reasonable internal logic. Many of the laws are old, but most are flexible enough to permit a wide range of modern, market-oriented activity. Property law, however, remains a"jungle". The wide discretion and general lack of precedent create tremendous legal uncertainty that is sure to hamper private sector development.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Housing and Land,Legal Products,Land and Real Estate Development
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An Alternative to Dye-Based Approaches to Remove Background Autofluorescence From Primate Brain Tissue
Brain tissue contains autofluorescing elements that potentially impede accurate identification of neurons when visualized with fluorescent microscopy. Age-related accumulation of molecules with autofluorescent properties, such as lipofuscin, can possess spectral profiles that invade the typical emission range of fluorophores commonly utilized in fluorescent microscopy. The traditional method for accounting for this native fluorescence is to apply lipophilic dyes that are able to sequester these unwanted signals. While effective, such dyes can present a range of problems including the obstruction of fluorescent probe emissions. The present study utilizes aged primate midbrain tissue stained for tyrosine hydroxylase and calbindin to investigate an image processing approach for removing autofluorescence utilizing spectral imaging and linear unmixing. This technique is then compared against the traditional, dye-based autofluorescence sequestration method using Sudan Black B (SBB). Spectral imaging and linear unmixing yielded significantly higher cell numbers than SBB treatment. This finding suggests that computational approaches for removing autofluorescence in neural tissue are both viable and preferential to dye-based approaches for estimation of cell body numbers.NIA [R01 AG050548, P51 RR000169, F31 AG055263]; McKnight Brain Research FoundationOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]
Computing Scalable Multivariate Glocal Invariants of Large (Brain-) Graphs
Graphs are quickly emerging as a leading abstraction for the representation
of data. One important application domain originates from an emerging
discipline called "connectomics". Connectomics studies the brain as a graph;
vertices correspond to neurons (or collections thereof) and edges correspond to
structural or functional connections between them. To explore the variability
of connectomes---to address both basic science questions regarding the
structure of the brain, and medical health questions about psychiatry and
neurology---one can study the topological properties of these brain-graphs. We
define multivariate glocal graph invariants: these are features of the graph
that capture various local and global topological properties of the graphs. We
show that the collection of features can collectively be computed via a
combination of daisy-chaining, sparse matrix representation and computations,
and efficient approximations. Our custom open-source Python package serves as a
back-end to a Web-service that we have created to enable researchers to upload
graphs, and download the corresponding invariants in a number of different
formats. Moreover, we built this package to support distributed processing on
multicore machines. This is therefore an enabling technology for network
science, lowering the barrier of entry by providing tools to biologists and
analysts who otherwise lack these capabilities. As a demonstration, we run our
code on 120 brain-graphs, each with approximately 16M vertices and up to 90M
edges.Comment: Published as part of 2013 IEEE GlobalSIP conferenc
The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK
Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publicationJest to przekład artykułu „The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK”
autorstwa Daniela T. Wilcoxa i Rosie Gray’a, który ukazał się w „European Polygraph”
numer 1 w 2012 roku. Artykuł dotyczy problematyki badań poligraficznych stosowanych
wobec przestępców seksualnych w Wielkiej Brytanii. Publikacja ta jest ważna dla
rozwoju polskiej polityki karnej, możliwych rozwiązań nowych regulacji w polskim
prawodawstwie, a na skutek wykorzystania możliwości badawczych ekspertyz poligraficznych
PCSOT, stosowanych wobec skazanych za przestępstwa popełnione na tle seksualnym,
oferuje znaczne szanse monitorowania przestępców seksualnych.This is a translation of the article „The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the
UK” by Daniel T. Wilcox and Rosie Gray, appeared in a European Polygraph volume
number 1 in the 2012.This article is about of how the polygraph can be used to work
with sexual offenders in the United Kingdom Publication it’s important for the development
of Polish penal policy, the possible solutions of new regulations in Polish
legislation, and as a result of the use of research possibilities of Post Conviction Clinical
Polygraph Examination Testing (Lie Detector Testing) offers significant opportunities
for monitoring sex offenders
Sufficient Conditions for Fast Switching Synchronization in Time Varying Network Topologies
In previous work, empirical evidence indicated that a time-varying network
could propagate sufficient information to allow synchronization of the
sometimes coupled oscillators, despite an instantaneously disconnected
topology. We prove here that if the network of oscillators synchronizes for the
static time-average of the topology, then the network will synchronize with the
time-varying topology if the time-average is achieved sufficiently fast. Fast
switching, fast on the time-scale of the coupled oscillators, overcomes the
descychnronizing decoherence suggested by disconnected instantaneous networks.
This result agrees in spirit with that of where empirical evidence suggested
that a moving averaged graph Laplacian could be used in the master-stability
function analysis. A new fast switching stability criterion here-in gives
sufficiency of a fast-switching network leading to synchronization. Although
this sufficient condition appears to be very conservative, it provides new
insights about the requirements for synchronization when the network topology
is time-varying. In particular, it can be shown that networks of oscillators
can synchronize even if at every point in time the frozen-time network topology
is insufficiently connected to achieve synchronization.Comment: Submitted to SIAD
The environmental dependence of the stellar mass-size relation in STAGES galaxies
We present the stellar mass-size relations for elliptical, lenticular, and
spiral galaxies in the field and cluster environments using HST/ACS imaging and
data from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). We use a
large sample of ~1200 field and cluster galaxies, and a sub-sample of cluster
core galaxies, and quantify the significance of any putative environmental
dependence on the stellar mass-size relation. For elliptical, lenticular, and
high-mass (log M*/M_sun > 10) spiral galaxies we find no evidence to suggest
any such environmental dependence, implying that internal drivers are governing
their size evolution. For intermediate/low-mass spirals (log M*/M_sun < 10) we
find evidence, significant at the 2-sigma level, for a possible environmental
dependence on galaxy sizes: the mean effective radius a_e for lower-mass
spirals is ~15-20 per cent larger in the field than in the cluster. This is due
to a population of low-mass large-a_e field spirals that are largely absent
from the cluster environments. These large-a_e field spirals contain extended
stellar discs not present in their cluster counterparts. This suggests the
fragile extended stellar discs of these spiral galaxies may not survive the
environmental conditions in the cluster. Our results suggest that internal
physical processes are the main drivers governing the size evolution of
galaxies, with the environment possibly playing a role affecting only the discs
of intermediate/low-mass spirals.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted to MNRA
Age-related neurochemical changes in the rhesus macaque inferior colliculus
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is marked by audiometric hearing deficits that propagate along the auditory pathway. Neurochemical changes as a function of aging have also been identified in neurons along the auditory pathway in both rodents and carnivores, however, very little is known about how these neurochemicals change in the non-human primate. To examine how these compensatory neurochemical changes relate to normal aging and audiometric sensitivity along the auditory pathway, we collected auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and brain specimens from seven rhesus monkeys spanning in age from 15 to 35 years old, and examined the relationship between click evoked ABR thresholds and the ABR evoked pure tone average (PTA) and changes in the number of parvalbumin and NADPH-diaphorase positive cells in the auditory midbrain. We found that the number of parvalbumin positive cells in the central nucleus and the surrounding cortex regions of the inferior colliculus were strongly correlated with advancing age and ABR PTA. We also found that the numbers of NADPHd positive cells in these same regions were not associated with normal aging or changes in the ABR thresholds. These findings suggest that the auditory midbrain undergoes an up-regulation of parvalbumin expressing neurons with aging that is related to changes in the processing of frequencies across the audiometric range
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