Perceiving animacy from shape

Superordinate visual classification—for example, identifying an image as “animal,” “plant,” or “mineral”—is computationally challenging because radically different items (e.g., “octopus,” “dog”) must be grouped into a common class (“animal”). It is plausible that learning superordinate categories teaches us not only the membership of particular (familiar) items, but also general features that are shared across class members, aiding us in classifying novel (unfamiliar) items. Here, we investigated visual shape features associated with animate and inanimate classes. One group of participants viewed images of 75 unfamiliar and atypical items and provided separate ratings of how much each image looked like an animal, plant, and mineral. Results show systematic tradeoffs between the ratings, indicating a class-like organization of items. A second group rated each image in terms of 22 midlevel shape features (e.g., “symmetrical,” “curved”). The results confirm that superordinate classes are associated with particular shape features (e.g., “animals” generally have high “symmetry” ratings). Moreover, linear discriminant analysis based on the 22-D feature vectors predicts the perceived classes approximately as well as the ground truth classification. This suggests that a generic set of midlevel visual shape features forms the basis for superordinate classification of novel objects along the animacy continuum

Procedurally reducing complexity: the practices of German EU policy coordination

"Policy coordination in federal states is inherently complex because it includes a multitude of actors at the federal and the sub-state level. If the sub-states want their interests to be included in the final decision, they need to coordinate with the federal level but also amongst themselves. Several individual interests are overlooked easier than coordinated interests of a group of sub-states. This paper puts forward the argument that during the coordination process, the actors from both levels meet in different constellations where they focus on different aspects of coordination, especially on different actors' interests separately. This is a strategy which enables them to procedurally reduce the complexity of the decision-making process. In order to empirically investigate this argument, first a thorough definition of coordination as process is provided and operationalized for empirical investigation. It is accentuated that coordination as a process has different dimensions which are relevant for the understanding of the coordination process. This argument is analyzed with the example case of German EU policy. The empirical data used are original expert interviews with German civil servants responsible for EU policy coordination at the sub-state level. It will be demonstrated that the actors strategically form voluntary coordination constellations which enables them to reduce complexity during the process." (author's abstract

Peroxisomal proliferator activated receptor-γ deficiency in a Canadian kindred with familial partial lipodystrophy type 3 (FPLD3)

BACKGROUND: Familial partial lipodystrophy (Dunnigan) type 3 (FPLD3, Mendelian Inheritance in Man [MIM] 604367) results from heterozygous mutations in PPARG encoding peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor-γ. Both dominant-negative and haploinsufficiency mechanisms have been suggested for this condition. METHODS: We present a Canadian FPLD3 kindred with an affected mother who had loss of fat on arms and legs, but no increase in facial, neck, suprascapular or abdominal fat. She had profound insulin resistance, diabetes, severe hypertriglyceridemia and relapsing pancreatitis, while her pre-pubescent daughter had normal fat distribution but elevated plasma triglycerides and C-peptide and depressed high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. RESULTS: The mother and daughter were each heterozygous for PPARG nonsense mutation Y355X, whose protein product in vitro was transcriptionally inactive with no dominant-negative activity against the wild-type receptor. In addition the mutant protein appeared to be markedly unstable. CONCLUSION: Taken together with previous studies of human PPARG mutations, these findings suggest that PPAR-γ deficiency due either to haploinsufficiency or to substantial activity loss due to dominant negative interference of the normal allele product's function can each contribute to the FPLD3 phenotype

Equação de Boltzmann em rede para escoamentos térmicos

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica, Florianópolis, 2010Para que se possa simular as equações macroscópicas totalmente compressíveis partindo da equação de Boltzmann é necessário muito cuidado no processo de discretização do espaço de velocidades. Deste modo, a conexão física existente entre a equação de Boltzmann em rede (lattice-Boltzmann equation) e a sua similar no contínuo deve ser levada em consideração, e para tal um procedimento é formalmente derivado. A discretização do espaço de velocidades é feita através de um processo de quadratura, onde a norma dos polinômios de Hermite do espaço de Hilbert contínuo é igualada à norma do espaço discreto de velocidades O método, chamado de quadratura com abscissas prescritas, permite que se fixem os pólos de integração, podendo deste modo ter-se o processo de propagação exata, característica importante dos métodos que resolvem a equação de Boltzmann em rede. Utilizando a quadratura com abscissas prescritas, redes tradicionais do método são derivadas, tais como D1Q3, D2Q7, D2Q9, D3Q15, D3Q19 e D3Q27, e também redes de ordens mais altas para uma, duas e três dimensões. Ao invés de usar a técnica de ajuste dos coeficientes polinomiais para a expansão da distribuição de equilíbrio, a distribuição de Maxwell-Boltzmann é aproximada para uma dada ordem. Uma análise de estabilidade linear é então feita e mostra a melhor performance do método proposto frente a outros métodos

Field Performance and Rating Evaluation of a Modular Press-Brake-Formed Steel Tub Girder with a Steel Sandwich Plate Deck

The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) is a group of bridge and culvert industry leaders (including steel manufacturers, fabricators, service centers, coaters, researchers, and representatives of related associations and government organizations) who have joined together to provide educational information on the design and construction of short span steel bridges in installations up to 140 feet in length. The SSSBA technical working group has developed a shallow press-brake-formed tub girder, a trapezoidal cold bent girder, to address the demand in the short span steel bridge market for rapid infrastructure replacement solutions. Following extensive experimental testing and design work at West Virginia University, members of the SSSBA in collaboration with Intelligent Engineering of Ottowa, Canada and County Engineer Douglas Davis, P.E., designed and constructed the Cannelville Road Bridge in Muskingum County, Ohio. The structure is composed of two modular, tub girder and sandwich plate steel (SPS®) deck units that were constructed offsite and erected using accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods. The structure is the second press-brake-formed steel tub girder bridge to be erected and is the first structure with a composite SPS® deck system. One year after construction, the structure was live load field tested by researchers from West Virginia University and Marshall University to assess its performance. This study presents the analysis and conclusions of experimental testing and analytical modeling of the Cannelville Road Bridge. The procedure for both experimental and analytical testing is outlined within the content of this study. The results of these analyses were used to generate bottom flange bending stress, live load distribution factors (LLDFs), and interior and exterior girder ratings. These values, experimental and analytical, were then compared with equivalent LLDFs and live load girder ratings computed referencing American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) LRFD Specifications. The result of this testing evidences that current AASHTO LRFD Specifications for analyzing shallow press-brake-formed tub girders are conservative, with field performance exceeding the performance calculated. In addition to high performance, tub girders are practical in ABC applications and compatible with various deck designs as modular units. With a growing demand and need for rapid infrastructure replacement, shallow press-brake-formed tub girders have been proven to be an effective application in response to the growing industry demand

Homozygous missense mutation (G56R) in glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high-density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPI-HBP1) in two siblings with fasting chylomicronemia (MIM 144650)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mice with a deleted <it>Gpihbp1 </it>gene encoding glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high-density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPI-HBP1) develop severe chylomicronemia. We screened the coding regions of the human homologue – <it>GPIHBP1 </it>– from the genomic DNA of 160 unrelated adults with fasting chylomicronemia and plasma triglycerides >10 mmol/L, each of whom had normal sequence of the <it>LPL </it>and <it>APOC2 </it>genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One patient with severe type 5 hyperlipoproteinemia (MIM 144650), fasting chylomicronemia and relapsing pancreatitis resistant to standard therapy was found to be homozygous for a novel <it>GPIHBP1 </it>missense variant, namely G56R. This mutation was absent from the genomes of 600 control subjects and 610 patients with hyperlipidemia. The <it>GPIHBP1 </it>G56 residue has been conserved throughout evolution and the G56R mutation was predicted to have compromised function. Her homozygous brother also had refractory chylomicronemia and relapsing pancreatitis together with early coronary heart disease. G56R heterozygotes in the family had fasting mild hypertriglyceridemia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus, a very rare <it>GPIHBP1 </it>missense mutation appears to be associated with severe hypertriglyceridemia and chylomicronemia.</p

Noninvasive Phenotypes of Atherosclerosis: Similar Windows but Different Views

Background and Purpose-Noninvasive measures of atherosclerosis, such as carotid intima-media thickness, total carotid plaque area, and carotid stenosis, probably represent different phenotypes with distinct determinants. For instance, total carotid plaque area may reflect atherosclerotic lesion size more closely than carotid stenosis, which instead may reflect hemodynamic compromise within the arterial lumen. Methods-In 1821 patients from a Premature Atherosclerosis Clinic, we studied determinants of total carotid plaque area and carotid stenosis as measured by ultrasound using multivariate regression analysis with traditional risk factors and some emerging risk factors. Results-Regression modeling showed that (1) traditional atherosclerosis risk factors were more strongly associated with total carotid plaque area than with carotid stenosis (R = 0.53 and 0.13, respectively), and (2) individual risk factors had different relationships with total carotid plaque area and carotid stenosis. For instance, age accounted for 53% and 26% of the explained variance of total carotid plaque area and carotid stenosis, respectively. Female sex was inversely associated with total carotid plaque area but positively associated with carotid stenosis. Nontraditional risk variables such as plasma homocysteine had different associations with the 2 analytes. Conclusions-Total carotid plaque area and carotid stenosis had different associations with specific atherosclerosis risk factors. Thus, for future studies of the determinants of atherosclerosis, it is important to distinguish between different phenotypes and to appreciate that they will not necessarily have the same determinants

Gene-gene and gene-environment interactions: new insights into the prevention, detection and management of coronary artery disease

Despite the recent success of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in identifying loci consistently associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), a large proportion of the genetic components of CAD and its metabolic risk factors, including plasma lipids, type 2 diabetes and body mass index, remain unattributed. Gene-gene and gene-environment interactions might produce a meaningful improvement in quantification of the genetic determinants of CAD. Testing for gene-gene and gene-environment interactions is thus a new frontier for large-scale GWASs of CAD. There are several anecdotal examples of monogenic susceptibility to CAD in which the phenotype was worsened by an adverse environment. In addition, small-scale candidate gene association studies with functional hypotheses have identified gene-environment interactions. For future evaluation of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions to achieve the same success as the single gene associations reported in recent GWASs, it will be important to pre-specify agreed standards of study design and statistical power, environmental exposure measurement, phenomic characterization and analytical strategies. Here we discuss these issues, particularly in relation to the investigation and potential clinical utility of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in CAD