6,888 research outputs found
An investigation of techniques that aim to improve the quality of labels provided by the crowd
The 2013 MediaEval Crowdsourcing task looked at the problem of working with noisy crowdsourced annotations of image data. The aim of the task was to investigate possible techniques for estimating the true labels of an image by using the set of noisy crowdsourced labels, and possibly any content and metadata from the image itself. For the runs in this paper, we’ve applied a shotgun approach and tried a number of existing techniques, which include generative probabilistic models and further crowdsourcing
The omnivorous Tyrolean Iceman: colon contents (meat, cereals, pollen, moss and whipworm) and stable isotope analyses
The contents of the colon of the Tyrolean Iceman who lived Ga. 5300 years ago include muscle fibres, cereal remains, a diversity of pollen, and most notably that of the hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) retaining cellular contents, as well as a moss leaf (Neckera complanata) and eggs of the parasitic whipworm (Trichuris trichiura). Based almost solely on stable isotope analyses and ignoring the work on the colon contents, two recently published papers on the Iceman's diet draw ill- founded conclusions about vegetarianism and even veganism. Neither the pollen nor the moss is likely to have been deliberately consumed as food by the Iceman. All the available evidence concerning the Iceman's broad-based diet is reviewed and the significance of the colon contents for matters other than assessment of food intake is outlined
The Domination Number of Grids
In this paper, we conclude the calculation of the domination number of all
grid graphs. Indeed, we prove Chang's conjecture saying that for
every , .Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Charge injection instability in perfect insulators
We show that in a macroscopic perfect insulator, charge injection at a
field-enhancing defect is associated with an instability of the insulating
state or with bistability of the insulating and the charged state. The effect
of a nonlinear carrier mobility is emphasized. The formation of the charged
state is governed by two different processes with clearly separated time
scales. First, due to a fast growth of a charge-injection mode, a localized
charge cloud forms near the injecting defect (or contact). Charge injection
stops when the field enhancement is screened below criticality. Secondly, the
charge slowly redistributes in the bulk. The linear instability mechanism and
the final charged steady state are discussed for a simple model and for
cylindrical and spherical geometries. The theory explains an experimentally
observed increase of the critical electric field with decreasing size of the
injecting contact. Numerical results are presented for dc and ac biased
insulators.Comment: Revtex, 7pages, 4 ps figure
Comparing methods for prescribing exercise for individuals with chronic heart failure
This study examined the accuracy of current recommended guidelines for prescribing exercise intensity using the methods of percentage of heart rate reserve (%HRR), percentage of VO2 peak (%VO2peak) and percentage of VO2 reserve (%VO2R) in a clinical population of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. The precision of prescription of exercise intensity for 45 patients with stable CHF (39:6 M:F, 65±9 yrs (mean±SD)) was investigated. VO2peak testing is relatively common among patients with cardiac disease, but the assessment of VO2rest is not common practice and the accepted standard value of 3.5 mL/kg/min is assumed in the application of %VO2R (%VO2R3.5). In this study, VO2rest was recorded for 3 min prior to the start of a symptom-limited exercise test on a cycle ergometer. Target exercise intensities were calculated using the VO2 corresponding to 50 or 80 %HRR, VO2peak and VO2R. The VO2 values were then converted into prescribed speeds on a treadmill in km/hr at 1 %grade using ACSM’s metabolic equation for walking. Target intensities and prescribed treadmill speeds were also calculated with the %VO2R method using the mean VO2rest value of participants (3.9 mL/kg/min) (%VO2R3.9). This was then compared to the exercise intensities and prescribed treadmill speeds using patient’s measured VO2rest. Error in prescription correlates the difference between %VO2R3.5 and %VO2R3.9 compared to %VO2R with measured VO2rest. Prescription of exercise intensity through the %HRR method is imprecise for patients on medications that blunt the HR response to exercise. %VO2R method offers a significant improvement in exercise prescription compared to %VO2peak. However, a disparity of 10 % still exists in the %VO2R method using the standard 3.5 mL/kg/min for VO2rest in the %VO2R equation. The mean measured VO2rest in the 45 CHF patients was 11 % higher (3.9±0.8 mL/kg/min) than the standard value provided by ACSM. Applying the mean measured VO2rest value of 3.9 mL/kg/min rather than the standard assumed value of 3.5 mL/kg/min proved to be closer to the prescribed intensity determined by the actual measured resting VO2. These results suggest that the %HRR method should not be used to prescribe exercise intensity for CHF patients. Instead, VO2 should be used to prescribe exercise intensity and be expressed as %VO2R with measured variables (VO2rest and VO2peak).<br /
Rotations associated with Lorentz boosts
It is possible to associate two angles with two successive non-collinear
Lorentz boosts. If one boost is applied after the initial boost, the result is
the final boost preceded by a rotation called the Wigner rotation. The other
rotation is associated with Wigner's O(3)-like little group. These two angles
are shown to be different. However, it is shown that the sum of these two
rotation angles is equal to the angle between the initial and final boosts.
This relation is studied for both low-speed and high-speed limits. Furthermore,
it is noted that the two-by-two matrices which are under the responsibility of
other branches of physics can be interpreted in terms of the transformations of
the Lorentz group, or vice versa. Classical ray optics is mentioned as a case
in point.Comment: LaTeX, 16 Pages, 4 epsfigure
The plastic number and its generalized polynomial
The polynomial has a unique positive root known as plastic
number, which is denoted by and is approximately equal to .
In this note we study the zeroes of the generalized polynomial
for and prove that its unique positive
root tends to the golden ratio as . We also derive bounds on in terms of Fibonacci
numbers.Comment: Publisher's pdf versio
Bounding the mass of the graviton using gravitional-wave observations of inspiralling compact binaries
If gravitation is propagated by a massive field, then the velocity of
gravitational waves (gravitons) will depend upon their frequency and the
effective Newtonian potential will have a Yukawa form. In the case of
inspiralling compact binaries, gravitational waves emitted at low frequency
early in the inspiral will travel slightly slower than those emitted at high
frequency later, modifying the phase evolution of the observed inspiral
gravitational waveform, similar to that caused by post-Newtonian corrections to
quadrupole phasing. Matched filtering of the waveforms can bound such
frequency-dependent variations in propagation speed, and thereby bound the
graviton mass. The bound depends on the mass of the source and on noise
characteristics of the detector, but is independent of the distance to the
source, except for weak cosmological redshift effects. For observations of
stellar-mass compact inspiral using ground-based interferometers of the
LIGO/VIRGO type, the bound on the graviton Compton wavelength is of the order
of km, about double that from solar-system tests of Yukawa
modifications of Newtonian gravity. For observations of super-massive black
hole binary inspiral at cosmological distances using the proposed laser
interferometer space antenna (LISA), the bound can be as large as km. This is three orders of magnitude weaker than model-dependent
bounds from galactic cluster dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Understanding interpersonal relationships and psychopathy
Although psychopathy is widely recognised for its importance in forensic and criminal justice settings, the range of interpersonal relationships that are experienced and engaged in by individuals with psychopathy is understudied. A Rapid Evidence Assessment (Study 1) examined what is known empirically about the nature and quality of relationships for individuals with psychopathy. Affective, Cognitive and Lifestyle Assessment (ACL) interviews and genograms were then analysed in conjunction with Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) scores to explore the extent, nature, and quality of interpersonal relationships in student and forensic psychiatric samples (Study 2). Quantitative data indicated that total psychopathy score predicted a smaller number of positive interpersonal relationships. Findings regarding Factors 1 and 2 and numbers of positive and negative interpersonal relationships varied between samples. Qualitative analyses demonstrated that psychopathic participants used less positive descriptors than non-psychopathic participants when discussing their interpersonal relationships. Findings are examined with regards to implications for future research
Callous-unemotional traits and anxiety in a community sample of 7-year-olds
In forensic samples of adults and adolescents, there is evidence to suggest that there may be distinct variants of psychopathy marked by the presence/absence of significant levels of anxiety. Callous-unemotional (CU) traits can be used to characterize children who share behavioural and neurocognitive features with adult psychopaths. The aims of this paper are to (a) investigate the genetic and environmental influences on CU traits with/without anxiety and (b) explore differences in terms of concurrent and early parenting and adjustment. Discrete groups were formed on the basis of scores in the top 10% of the sample on CU and anxiety scales at age 7. Estimates of group heritability were calculated using a Defries-Fulker (DF) extremes regression model. Follow back analyses of early parenting and adjustment were conducted using multivariate analyses of covariance. There was high group heritability for CU traits with/without anxiety. Children with both high CU and anxiety showed greater levels of adjustment problems than those with CU only at age 7. The two groups did not differ in parenting characteristics. In this general population sample, evidence did not support differences in etiology for the two groups high on CU traits differing in level of anxiety
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