Enrichment Procedures for Soft Clusters: A Statistical Test and its Applications

Clusters, typically mined by modeling locality of attribute spaces, are often evaluated for their ability to demonstrate ‘enrichment’ of categorical features. A cluster enrichment procedure evaluates the membership of a cluster for significant representation in pre-defined categories of interest. While classical enrichment procedures assume a hard clustering definition, in this paper we introduce a new statistical test that computes enrichments for soft clusters. We demonstrate an application of this test in refining and evaluating soft clusters for classification of remotely sensed images

An SMP Soft Classification Algorithm for Remote Sensing

This work introduces a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) version of the continuous iterative guided spectral class rejection (CIGSCR) algorithm, a semiautomated classification algorithm for remote sensing (multispectral) images. The algorithm uses soft data clusters to produce a soft classification containing inherently more information than a comparable hard classification at an increased computational cost. Previous work suggests that similar algorithms achieve good parallel scalability, motivating the parallel algorithm development work here. Experimental results of applying parallel CIGSCR to an image with approximately 10^8 pixels and six bands demonstrate superlinear speedup. A soft two class classification is generated in just over four minutes using 32 processors

Sound propagation in and radiation from acoustically lined flow ducts: A comparison of experiment and theory

The results of an experimental and theoretical study of many of the fundamental details of sound propagation in hard wall and soft wall annular flow ducts are reported. The theory of sound propagation along such ducts and the theory for determining the complex radiation impedance of higher order modes of an annulus are outlined, and methods for generating acoustic duct modes are developed. The results of a detailed measurement program on propagation in rigid wall annular ducts with and without airflow through the duct are presented. Techniques are described for measuring cut-on frequencies, modal phase speed, and radial and annular mode shapes. The effects of flow velocity on cut-on frequencies and phase speed are measured. Comparisons are made with theoretical predictions for all of the effects studies. The two microphone method of impedance is used to measure the effects of flow on acoustic liners. A numerical study of sound propagation in annular ducts with one or both walls acoustically lined is presented

"The United States and Her Creditors: Can the Symbiosis Last?"

The main arguments in this paper can be simply stated: 1) If output in the US grows fast enough to keep unemployment constant between now and 2010 and if there is no further depreciation in the dollar, the deficit in the balance of trade is likely to get worse, perhaps reaching 7.5 per cent by the end of the decade. 2) If the trade deficit does not improve, let alone if it gets worse, there will be a large further deterioration in the US's net foreign asset position so that, with interest rates rising, net income payments from abroad will at last turn negative and the deficit in the current account as a whole could reach at least 8.5 per cent of GDP. . . .

The impact of blocking natural peat pipes on water-table depth and water quality

No abstract available

Some Factors Influencing the Respiration of Rhizobium

In the first isolation of the bacteria infecting the roots of the Leguminosae, Beijerinck found that the common meat-peptone gelatin substrate is not well adapted to their growth; but that a medium, very suitable for their culture, consists of a water extract of legume leaves, 0.25 per cent asparagin; 5 per cent sucrose and 7 per cent gelatin. Later he modified this medium by making a more concentrated legume extract from pea seedlings and omitting the asparagin. At about the same time Breal found that a water extract of the roots of legumes also favors the growth of these organisms. Hiltner and Störmer suggested a medium with asparagin as the only source of nitrogen. Later a neutral water extract of pressed yeast was advocated by Fred and this is in general use at the present time. However, extracts of some nonleguminous plants have been used with apparently equally good results. Müller and Stapp obtained excellent growth of the various cultures of the root nodule bacteria on an extract of carrots; and very recently Carroll reports that an aqueous extract of asparagus promotes the growth of these organisms just as well as yeast extract

Public Participation Organizations and Open Policy:A Constitutional Moment for British Democracy?

This article builds on work in Science and Technology Studies and cognate disciplines concerning the institutionalization of public engagement and participation practices. It describes and analyses ethnographic qualitative research into one “organization of participation,” the UK government–funded Sciencewise program. Sciencewise’s interactions with broader political developments are explored, including the emergence of “open policy” as a key policy object in the UK context. The article considers what the new imaginary of openness means for institutionalized forms of public participation in science policymaking, asking whether this is illustrative of a “constitutional moment” in relations between society and science policymaking

Enhanced optical alignment of a digital micro mirror device through Bayesian adaptive exploration

As the use of Digital Micro Mirror Devices (DMDs) becomes more prevalent in optics research, the ability to precisely locate the Fourier “footprint” of an image beam at the Fourier plane becomes a pressing need. In this approach, Bayesian adaptive exploration techniques were employed to characterize the size and position of the beam on a DMD located at the Fourier plane. It couples a Bayesian inference engine with an inquiry engine to implement the search. The inquiry engine explores the DMD by engaging mirrors and recording light intensity values based on the maximization of the expected information gain. Using the data collected from this exploration, the Bayesian inference engine updates the posterior probability describing the beam’s characteristics. The process is iterated until the beam is located to within the desired precision. This methodology not only locates the center and radius of the beam with remarkable precision but accomplishes the task in far less time than a brute force search. The employed approach has applications to system alignment for both Fourier processing and coded aperture design