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The growing scope, scale, and number of biometric deployments around the world emphasise the need for research into technologies facilitating efficient and reliable biometric identification queries. This work presents a method of indexing biometric databases, which relies on signal‐level fusion of facial images (morphing) to create a multi‐stage data structure and retrieval protocol. By successively pre‐filtering the list of potential candidate identities, the proposed method makes it possible to reduce the necessary number of biometric template comparisons to complete a biometric identification transaction. The proposed method is extensively evaluated on publicly available databases using open‐source and commercial off‐the‐shelf recognition systems. The results show that using the proposed method, the computational workload can be reduced down to around 30% while the biometric performance of a baseline exhaustive search‐based retrieval is fully maintained, both in closed‐set and open‐set identification scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a structure in a state with any type of perturbation, the steady-state vibrational response will be identical to that in the unperturbed state if the perturbation is rendered dormant and, of course, if the load distribution is the same in the two states. Guided by this principle, a damage localization method is cast that operates on the premise of shaping inputs—whose spatial distribution is fixed—by use of a model, such that these inputs, in one structural subdomain at a time, suppress certain steady-state vibration quantities (depending on the type of damage one seeks to interrogate for). Accordingly, damage is localized when the vibration signature induced by the shaped inputs in the damaged state corresponds to that in the reference state, hereby implying that the approach does not point directly to damage. Instead, it operates with interrogation based on postulated damage patterns, resulting in a system identification-free procedure whose primary merits, besides avoiding the typical bottleneck of system identification, include a low demand on output sensors, robustness towards noise, and conceptual simplicity. The price paid for these merits is reliance on a relatively accurate model of the structure in its reference state and the need for multiple controllable inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Image & Graphics is the property of Editorial Office of Journal of Image & Graphics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Rapid genetic on‐site identification methods at points of entry, such as seaports and airports, have the potential to become important tools to prevent the introduction and spread of economically harmful pest species that are unintentionally transported by the global trade of plant commodities. This paper reports the development and evaluation of a loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)‐based identification system to prevent introduction of the three most frequently encountered regulated quarantine insect species groups at Swiss borders, Bemisia tabaci, Thrips palmi and several regulated fruit flies of the genera Bactrocera and Zeugodacus. RESULTS: The LAMP primers were designed to target a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene and were generated based on publicly available DNA sequences. Laboratory evaluations analysing 282 insect specimens suspected to be quarantine organisms revealed an overall test efficiency of 99%. Additional on‐site evaluation at a point of entry using 37 specimens performed by plant health inspectors with minimal laboratory training resulted in an overall test efficiency of 95%. During both evaluation rounds, there were no false‐positives and the observed false‐negatives were attributable to human‐induced manipulation errors. To overcome the possibility of accidental introduction of pests as a result of rare false‐negative results, samples yielding negative results in the LAMP method were also subjected to DNA barcoding. CONCLUSION: Our LAMP assays reliably differentiated between the tested regulated and non‐regulated insect species within <1 h. Hence, LAMP assays represent suitable tools for rapid on‐site identification of harmful pests, which might facilitate an accelerated import control process for plant commodities. © 2018 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Visual identification is the most common identification method used by medical examiners but is not always possible. Alternative methods include X‐ray, fingerprint, or DNA comparison, but these methods require additional resources. Comparison of serial numbers on implanted medical devices is a rapid and definitive method of identification. To assess the practicality of using this method, we reviewed 608 consecutive forensic autopsies performed at a regional medical examiner office. Of these, 56 cases required an alternative method of identification due to decomposition (n = 35), gunshot wound (n = 9), blunt trauma (n = 6), or charring (n = 6). Of these 56 cases, eight (14.3%) were known to have an implanted medical device. Of these eight cases, five (63%) could be positively identified by comparing serial numbers. If an implanted medical device is known to be present, and medical records are available, identification by medical device serial number should be a first‐line method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although useful for many applications, the practical use of tagless remote human identification is often hampered by privacy, usability, reliability, or cost concerns. In this paper, we explore the use of capacitive sensors, which appear to address most of these concerns, to identify different persons based on the unique electric and dielectric properties of their bodies given by their specific tissue composition. We present experimental results obtained by measuring the capacitance of a 16~\text cm\times 16~\text cm transducer plate 70 cm in front of different human bodies at different frequencies in the 5–160-kHz range. The measurements show clearly distinct signatures of capacitance variation with frequency for each person in the experiment, even after accounting for capacitance variations due to different body masses or physical dimensions. This paper focuses on the contactless identification of human body using capacitive sensors in smart home environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Practical Pharmacy & Clinical Remedies is the property of Editorial Department of Practical Pharmacy & Clinical Remedies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Short tandem repeat (STR) typing from skeletal remains can be a difficult task. Dependent on the environmental conditions of the provenance of the bones, DNA can be degraded and STR typing inhibited. Generally, dense and compact bones are known to preserve DNA better. Several studies already proved that femora and teeth have high DNA typing success rates. Unfortunately, these elements are not present in all cases involving skeletal remains. Processing partial or singular skeletal elements, it is favorable to select bone areas where DNA preservation is comparably higher. Especially, cranial bones are often accidentally discovered during criminal investigations. The cranial bone is composed of multiple parts. In this examination, we evaluated the potential of the petrous bone for human identification of skeletal remains in forensic case work. Material from different sections of eight unknown cranial bones and-where available-additionally other skeletal elements, collected at the DNA department of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Ulm, Germany, from 2010 to 2017, were processed with an optimized DNA extraction and STR typing strategy. The results highlight that STR typing from the petrous bones leads to reportable profiles in all individuals, even in cases where the analysis of the parietal bone failed. Moreover, the comparison of capillary electrophorese (CE) typing to massively parallel sequencing (MPS) analysis shows that MPS has the potential to analyze degraded human remains and is even capable to provide additional information about phenotype and ancestry of unknown individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text-independent handwriting identification methods require that features such as texture are extracted from lengthy document image; while text-dependent handwriting identification methods require that the contents of the documents being compared are identical. In order to overcome these confinements, this paper presents a novel Chinese handwriting identification technique. First, Chinese characters are segmented from handwriting document, then keywords are extracted based on matching and voting of local features of character. Then the same-content keywords are used to build training sets, and these training sets of two documents are compared. Because the keywords are similar to signature, the handwriting identification problem is transformed into signature verification problem. Experiments on HIT-MW, HIT-SW and CASIA show this method outperforms many text-independent handwriting identification methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a methodology for the identification of workstations in earthwork operations based on GPS traces from construction vehicles. The model incorporates relevant information extracted from the GPS data to infer locations of different workstations as probability distributions over the environment. Monitoring of workstation locations may support map inference for generating and continuously updating the layout and road network topology of the construction environment. A case study is conducted at a complex earthwork site in Sweden. The workstation identification methodology is used to infer the locations of loading stations based on vehicle speeds and interactions between vehicles, and the locations of dumping stations based on vehicle turning patterns. The results show that the proposed method is able to identify workstations in the earthwork environment efficiently and in sufficient detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reidentifying people across disjoint camera views, known as person reidentification (PRId), has gained attention in many surveillance applications. This letter presents a framework for PRId that jointly exploits orientation and appearance cues to filter a subset of gallery candidates, where the probability of finding an exact match for a given probe remains very high. In addition, a similarity measure is formulated using the bipartite graph matching together with the weights of feature channels to estimate the correspondence within the filtered set. Experimental evaluation on standard datasets alongside comparisons with state-of-the-art validates the efficacy of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inverse analysis using an optimization method based on a genetic algorithm (GA) is a useful tool for obtaining soil parameters in geotechnical fields. However, the performance of the optimization in identifying soil parameters mainly depends on the search ability of the GA used. This study aims to develop a new efficient hybrid real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) being applied to identify parameters of soils. In this new RCGA, a new hybrid strategy is proposed by adopting two crossovers with outstanding ability, namely the Simulated Binary Crossover and the simplex crossover. In order to increase the convergence speed, a chaotic local search technique is used conditionally. The performance of the proposed RCGA is first validated by optimizing mathematical benchmark functions. The results demonstrate that the RCGA has an outstanding search ability and faster convergence speed compared to other hybrid RCGAs. The proposed new hybrid RCGA is then further evaluated by identifying soil parameters based on both laboratory tests and field tests, for different soil models. All the comparisons demonstrate that the proposed RCGA has an excellent performance of inverse analysis in identifying soil parameters, and is thus recommended for use based on all the evaluations carried out in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to successfully determine the structures of proteins. However, such studies are typically done ex situ after extraction of the protein from the cellular environment. Here we describe an application for nanodiamonds as targeted intensity contrast labels in biological TEM, using the nuclear pore complex (NPC) as a model macroassembly. We demonstrate that delivery of antibody-conjugated nanodiamonds to live mammalian cells using maltotriose-conjugated polypropylenimine dendrimers results in efficient localization of nanodiamonds to the intended cellular target. We further identify signatures of nanodiamonds under TEM that allow for unambiguous identification of individual nanodiamonds from a resin-embedded, OsO4-stained environment. This is the first demonstration of nanodiamonds as labels for nanoscale TEM-based identification of subcellular protein assemblies. These results, combined with the unique fluorescence properties and biocompatibility of nanodiamonds, represent an important step toward the use of nanodiamonds as markers for correlated optical/electron bioimaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies in referring expression generation (REG) have shown different effects of referential overspecification on the resolution of certain descriptions. To further investigate effects of this kind, this article reports two eye-tracking experiments that measure the time required to recognize target objects based on different kinds of information. Results suggest that referential overspecification may be either helpful or detrimental to identification depending on the kind of information that is actually overspecified, an insight that may be useful for the design of more informed hearer-oriented REG algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses and mathematically describes a method for mutual identification of multiple mobile robots. The method interchanges identification numbers among multiple robots via audible beeps multiplexed by frequency. The identification sound is sent only when robots approach to each other. The algorithm was primary designed for e-puck robots, but it can be used in any multi-agent robotic system; each mobile robot has to be equipped with three microphones for determination of the sound's direction, speaker and signal processing microcontroller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of forensic dentistry, methods for personal identification through tooth measurement have been developed. This study aimed at proposing a new method for personal identification using digital periapical radiograph. Seven measurements were performed in 206 digital periapical radiographs (103 patients with age more than 14 years old have double radiographs in the same region of interest) from seven reference distanceswhich were appointed before the measurement in permanent mandibular second premolar and first molar. The measurement process was done in two ways, digital radiography software andmanual measurement. The reliability of seven reference points was assessed with intra-observer and inter-observer values (TEM < 1 mm). The accuracy of tooth measurement method was assessed withBland- Altman test that demonstrated no statistical difference(p> 0.050) regarding paired radiograph comparison. Limits of agreement (LOA) values from Bland-Altman test showed range of difference (mm) from paired radiograph whichwas still acceptable as same person. The method been examined further through blind test for similarview radiographs resulted 100% match between one pair radiograph with true identity came from thesame person. The method proposed in this study is able to identify person accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considered a new method to identify objects in the presence of random errors in measurements of input and output signals. Confirmed the possibility not displaced efficient parameter estimates facility proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to uniquely identify people with the same name will be as important in a linked data environment as it is in traditional library catalogs. Although older cataloging rules allowed multiple identities to share space in an authority record, the current rules are more stringent, requiring that all authorized access points for people to be disambiguated. While this task has been made much easier in recent years because of the amount of biographical material on the web, deceased and obscure people can pose a complex challenge. This is especially true for special collections materials, which are being given greater attention but which often deal with people who are long dead and little known. This paper builds on previous research in the use of online resources to perform authority work by providing an in-depth analysis of the genealogist’s toolkit and examining how freely available online genealogical sources can be used to find the types of distinctive information needed to create unique access points for people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of RGO: Revista Gaúcha de Odontologia is the property of RGO: Revista Gaucha de Odontologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Skeletal traits as observed using various radiologic imaging modalities (such as X-ray and CT) are commonly used in forensic identification comparisons. Such comparisons have traditionally been made using relatively subjective visual approaches, relying on the experience and ability of the examiner. In order to bolster the results of radiologic comparisons with objective, statistically based approaches, more data are needed on the frequencies of these skeletal traits in the relevant population. Population frequencies describe how rare or common a feature is, and form the basis for the validity of any identification approach. The population frequencies of many traits used in forensic radiologic comparisons, however, are not known in many cases or are difficult to access in others. Here we present a review of traits and sources found in Keats and Anderson’s Atlas of Normal Roentgen Variants That May Simulate Disease in an effort to document and compile some of the currently available frequency data for a variety of skeletal traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of dry fire extinguisher powder to develop latent fingerprints on glass, tile, and metal was investigated in this study. This method was then compared with four other fingerprint development methods: cyanoacrylate → rhodamine, fluorescent powder, granular powder (white or black), and magnetic powder. The results showed that the development of fingerprints with fire extinguisher powder was comparable to other methods on both heated and unheated surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With near field communication (NFC), smart card applications, including mobile payments and ID-based applications, can be integrated and deployed to smartphones. However, some of the physical anti-counterfeiting mechanisms are unavailable when the attributes of physical cards are digitalized. For example, photos and signatures can be used to verify personal identity when carrying out credit card payments or using ID-based applications, but the digital images shown by smartphones are easy to attack and forge. Such risks mean that mobile payments are often limited to relatively small transactions. Personal identification thus plays an important role in such smartphone applications, particularly when several smart cards are integrated into the devices. In this paper, an NFC anti-counterfeiting framework with a two-layered digital image protection mechanism is proposed; in this system, an application certificate signed by the service provider and image metadata are hidden in the personal digital image using digital watermarking, and the image metadata is protected by the secure element in the NFC device. Several procedures are designed to ensure the originality of the photo and signature images, so that the process of digital image authentication is as secure and practical as using printed images on a plastic card. Personal authentication and transactions can then be performed securely with the personal authentication applet (PAA) in an offline authentication process, which is fast and convenient compared to online authentication processes. Using the proposed NFC anti-counterfeiting framework, the authentication process in mobile payments will be more secure and thus can be applied with high value transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the phase of operation, a technical system accomplishes goals which were the reason of the system designing and creation. The execution of operation tasks by the system causes changes in the system state. The changes in the dynamic state of rotating systems can be early identified by means of vibrations measurement. Therefore, the operational tests were performed in order to register time histories of vibrations. Next, characteristics of the collected vibration signals were recorded and the most significant of them were taken as an input for further studies. The studies were performed to formulate a method of identifying the rotating systems misalignment with high reliability. The method consists in fuzzy clustering implementation. According to the method the input signals were used to formulate the fuzzy clusters of the ability and inability states of the system. Thanks to the method, it is possible to identify the operation position of the system on base of the vibration signals analysis. In the paper the proposed method was described. The results of the method application for a gas turbine engine as an example of a rotating system are also presented. It should be emphasized that the reliability of the described operation state identification is higher than other methods implemented by the authors previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Stature is one of the primary characteristics for identification. After the age of 21 years, the dimensions of the skeleton remain unchanged and the ratio in size of different parts to one another is also considerably variable in different individuals. In case of dismembered body as encountered in mass disasters, riots, plane crashes etc., stature can be estimated on the basis of ratio of different parts of body. There is considerable difference in stature of individuals natives of different geographical regions. In this study, attempts are made to establish a relationship between percutaneous tibial length and stature of an individual in natives of Gujarat state. Method: Study was carried out on natives of Gujarat state at Smt NHL Municipal medical college, Ahmedabad. The subjects were included after verifying their birthplace as Gujarat. Percutaneous tibial length was measured using calipers and stature was measured by asking the subjects to stand on a stadiometer. These findings were put in computer software and statistical tests were applied to derive the regression equation in which the stature was dependent variable while tibial lengh was taken as independent variable. Results: It was found that there is positive correlation between percutaneous tibial length and stature in both sexes and the regression formulas were derived that can calculate the stature of an individual from available tibial length. Interpretation & Conclusion: It was concluded that stature can be estimated using measurements of tibial length and there is positive correlation between stature and percutaneous tibial length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California prison policy relies on symbols to identify prison gang affiliated inmates. This policy leads to many false positives and results in long-term solitary confinement of individuals who, in fact, are not affiliated with any gang at all. This Note examines the evolution of California's symbol-driven policy, including regulations before 2012, after 2012, and the recent Ashker settlement. This Note finds that these symbols and their corresponding interpretations provide unreliable indicators of prison gang affiliation, resulting in unwarranted consequences for prisoners. By allowing prison officials to rely on nonindicative symbols in its process, California uses an unsound policy for managing prison gangs. Moving forward, the California Legislature should demand that prison officials limit their reliance on visual symbols when making prison gang identifications. California should implement a predominantly behavior-based process for identifying prison gang affiliates, with visual symbols used only to support the nexus between the behavior and a prison gang. The visual symbols that prison officials use to demonstrate this nexus should undergo public and prisoner comment before prison officials may use them. Furthermore, the Legislature should provide for annual commenting periods designed to foster critique and revision of symbolic meanings. Finally, prison officials should provide a full list of all nexusdemonstrating symbols to prisoners and the public to afford proper notice. By implementing these changes, California will take a step toward amending its faulty prison gang identification process by imposing consequences to only those prisoners who are truly prison gang members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faces are encountered in highly diverse angles in real-world settings. Despite this considerable diversity, most individuals are able to easily recognize familiar faces. The vast majority of studies in the field of face recognition have nonetheless focused almost exclusively on frontal views of faces. Indeed, a number of authors have investigated the diagnostic facial features for the recognition of frontal views of faces previously encoded in this same view. However, the nature of the information useful for identity matching when the encoded face and test face differ in viewing angle remains mostly unexplored. The present study addresses this issue using individual differences and bubbles, a method that pinpoints the facial features effectively used in a visual categorization task. Our results indicate that the use of features located in the center of the face, the lower left portion of the nose area and the center of the mouth, are significantly associated with individual efficiency to generalize a face's identity across different viewpoints. However, as faces become more familiar, the reliance on this area decreases, while the diagnosticity of the eye region increases. This suggests that a certain distinction can be made between the visual mechanisms subtending viewpoint invariance and face recognition in the case of unfamiliar face identification. Our results further support the idea that the eye area may only come into play when the face stimulus is particularly familiar to the observer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) is a bicommunal body established in 1981 that aims to recover, identify, and return remains to the families of 2001 missing persons from events that occurred between 1963 and 1964 and in 1974. At the time of the writing of this article, the remains of 1061 individuals have been exhumed, and 625 have been identified. This article presents a system for forensic management and artifact collection during the identification of missing persons, the usefulness of the information that is provided by artifacts, and the impact that artifacts have on families when artifacts are released to the families with the remains. The CMP experience indicates that proper forensic management plays an important role in the identification process and contributes to bicommunal stability in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential item functioning (DIF) assessment is key in score validation. When DIF is present scores may not accurately reflect the construct of interest for some groups of examinees, leading to incorrect conclusions from the scores. Given rising immigration, and the increased reliance of educational policymakers on cross-national assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), DIF with regard to native language is of particular interest in this context. However, given differences in language and cultures, assuming similar cross-national DIF may lead to mistaken assumptions about the impact of immigration status, and native language on test performance. The purpose of this study was to use model-based recursive partitioning (MBRP) to investigate uniform DIF in PIRLS items across European nations. Results demonstrated that DIF based on mother's language was present for several items on a PIRLS assessment, but that the patterns of DIF were not the same across all nations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this work, we present a multi-level adaptive correspondence model for person re-identification. Coarse segmentation and single level representation carry poorly discriminative information for generating a signature of a target, whilst fine segmentation with a fixed matching fashion is hindered severely by misalignment of corresponding body parts. We address such a dilemma through a multi-level adaptive correspondence scheme. Our approach encodes a pedestrian based on horizontal stripes in multi-level to capture rich visual cues as well as implicit spatial structure. Then dynamic correspondence of stripes within an image pair is conducted. Considering that manually selected weights in the final fusion stage is not advisable, we employ RankSVM to seek a data-driven fusion solution. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on two public datasets and another new dataset built for single shot re-identification. Comparisons with state-of-the-art re-identification methods show the superior performance of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the structurational theory of identification [Scott, Corman, & Cheney, 1998] and resilience theory [Buzzanell, 2010], our inquiry provides insight into the sustainability of disaster-relief worker involvement and the discursive processes whereby workers overcome emotional and physical challenges to create resilience labor. Analyzing 23 semi-structured interviews with disaster-relief workers of a non-profit organization, we define resilience labor as the dual-layered process of reintegrating transformative identities and identifications to sustain and construct ongoing organizational involvement and resilience. The identification frames align with familial, ideological, and destruction–renewal network ties that empower individuals to construct their identities in transformative ways. The frames can guide non-profit managers and volunteers working in extreme contexts characterized by societal conflicts or disruption to sustain themselves as they construct resilience labor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to enhance the robustness and accelerate the recognition speed of star identification, an autonomous star identification algorithm for star sensors is proposed based on the one-dimensional vector pattern (one_DVP). In the proposed algorithm, the space geometry information of the observed stars is used to form the one-dimensional vector pattern of the observed star. The one-dimensional vector pattern of the same observed star remains unchanged when the stellar image rotates, so the problem of star identification is simplified as the comparison of the two feature vectors. The one-dimensional vector pattern is adopted to build the feature vector of the star pattern, which makes it possible to identify the observed stars robustly. The characteristics of the feature vector and the proposed search strategy for the matching pattern make it possible to achieve the recognition result as quickly as possible. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively accelerate the star identification. Moreover, the recognition accuracy and robustness by the proposed algorithm are better than those by the pyramid algorithm, the modified grid algorithm, and the LPT algorithm. The theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the other three star identification algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of an identification procedure is access control. Methods that permit an identification are called identification protocols. In this paper, first we introduced quaternion numbers. In addition we proposed a new identification scheme based on quaternions. Finally, the security of our scheme is analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human herpesvirus 6B (HHV6B) infects over 90% of the population, and normally establishes a latent infection, where episodes of reactivation are asymptomatic. However, in immunocompromised patients HHV6B reactivation is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Cellular immunotherapy has been utilised against other herpesvirus in immunocompromised settings. However, limited information on the immune response against HHV6B has hampered the development of immunotherapy for HHV6B-driven disease. In this study, we have analysed the cellular immune response against four HHV6B antigens in a panel of 30 healthy donors. We show that the base-line level of T cell reactivity in peripheral blood is very low to undetectable. A short-term reactivation step enabled expansion of T cell responses, and all donors responded to at least 1 antigen, but more commonly 3 or 4. A hierarchy of immunogenicity was determined with antigens U90 and U54 being co-dominant, followed by U11 and U39. Putative CD8+ T cell epitopes were mapped to U90 and U11, predicted to be presented in the context of HLA-A1, A29, B39 and C6. T cells reactive against these novel epitopes were able to recognise virus-infected cells. Our data is supportive of the application and on-going development of T cell immunotherapy against HHVB-driven disease in the immunocompromised host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific practices for the identification and the registration of people, not necessarily related to the State control of migration flows, were recorded in Sicily as well as in the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Age. We should consider the need of individuals to establish their condition or to assure themselves certain rights and privileges through some form of registration providing recognition of identity. The matter extends then to other areas such as those of property, testimony, rights and law. Taking advantage of the considerable amount of archival records produced in Sicily in the aforementioned period, the present essay aims to focus on some of the identification practices thus suggesting possible paths of further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar characteristics including color, luster, texture, and mineral inclusions of both Dover and Fort Payne chert types coupled with the wide geologic and geographic distribution of these deposits compound interobserver errors associated with visual identification methods. Samples were obtained from outcrops of Dover from Kentucky and Tennessee and Fort Payne chert from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee demonstrating their extensive geologic distribution as well as the great similarity in macroscopic traits. A logistic regression analysis upon the sample database demonstrates successful differentiation of the chert types. However, the Dover/Fort Payne case study provides a cautionary example of the potential pitfalls with sourcing studies solely reliant upon visual attributes to assign artifact provenance. In general, the use of visual chert identification should be a 'first approximation' and it is argued here that large type databases systematically sampled from both primary and secondary sources highlight the possible wide range of macroscopic variation present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolation and characterization of fungal endophytes from various parts of epiphyte fern, Asplenium nidus was done. Thirteen fungal endophytes have been successfully isolated from A. nidus from which eight was from the leaf, three from midrib and two from the root. Macroscopic and microscopic identification revealed that the isolates was identified as Aspergillus fumigatus, A. terreus, A. niger, two isolates from genus Penicillium, one isolate each from the genus Phoma, Fusarium, Pestalotopsis and Drechslera. Four isolates were unable to be identified at the genus level. However they can be classified as members from Family Dematiaceae, Class Sphaeropsidales, sterile mycelium and phylum Deutromycota respectively. Screening for antibacterial activity of the fungal endophytes was also done. Only A. terreus, Phoma sp. and isolate of Phylum Deutromycota produced inhibition zones against the tested bacteria. The diversity of endophytes from A. nidus was shown in this study with some of the isolates having low antibacterial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a set of single layer low complexity nonlinear adaptive models for efficient identification of dynamic systems in the presence of outliers in the training signal. The weights of the new models have been updated using a new robust learning algorithm. The proposed robust algorithm is based on adaptive minimization of Wilcoxon norm of errors. The computational complexity associated with the new models has further been reduced by processing the input in block form and using a newly derived robust block learning algorithm. Through exhaustive simulation study of many benchmark identification examples, it has been shown that in all cases, the new models provide enhanced and robust identification performance compared with that provided by the corresponding conventional squared error-based approaches. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An epidemic of morbidity and mortality has swept across the United States related to the use of prescription opioids for chronic noncancer pain. More than 100 000 people have died from unintentional overdose, making this one of the worst manmade epidemics in history. Much of health care delivery in the United States is regulated at the state level; therefore, both the cause and much of the cure for the opioid epidemic will come from state action. We detail the strong collaborations across executive health care agencies, and between those public agencies and practicing leaders in the pain field that have led to a substantial reversal of the epidemic in Washington State [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We sought to identify people living with HIV/AIDS from Medicare and Medicaid claims data to estimate Medicaid costs for treating HIV/AIDS in California. We also examined how alternate methods of identifying the relevant sample affect estimates of per capita costs. Methods. We analyzed data on Californians enrolled in Medicaid with an HIV/ AIDS diagnosis reported in 2007 Medicare or Medicaid claims data. We compared alternative selection criteria by examining use of antiretroviral drugs, HIV-specific monitoring tests, and medical costs. We compared the final sample and average costs with other estimates of the size of California’s HIV/AIDS population covered by Medicaid in 2007 and their average treatment costs. Results. Eighty-seven percent (18 290) of potentially identifiable HIV-positive individuals satisfied at least 1 confirmation criterion. Nearly 80% of confirmed observations had claims for HIV-specific tests, compared with only 3% of excluded cases. Female Medicaid recipients were particularly likely to be miscoded as having HIV. Medicaid treatment spending for Californians with HIV averaged $33 720 in 2007. Conclusions. The proposed algorithm displays good internal and external validity. Accurately identifying HIV cases in claims data is important to avoid drawing biased conclusions and is necessary in setting appropriate HIV managed-care capitation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To describe the effect of interventions designed to improve patient identification ( PI) during pathology collection in the ED. Methods A prospective before-and-after intervention study was conducted between June 2009 and June 2010 in a regional ED in Queensland, Australia. Interventions aimed to improve PI and specimen labelling, and consisted of: (i) education alone; and (ii) education plus an armband scanner that voice-prompted collector behaviour. Main outcomes measured included: frequency of correct key behaviours (KBs) during specimen collection, pathology integrity errors and cost of interventions. Results Data from 282 ED pathology collections were analysed (before: n = 115, after with education: n = 95, after with education plus armband scanner: n = 72). KBs for PI and labelling improved significantly following education plus armband scanner use. Application of armbands before sample collection increased (36% vs 90%, P < 0.001), as did asking the patient to state their name (25% vs 93%, P < 0.001) and date of birth (22% vs 93%, P < 0.001). These results were similar, albeit less pronounced, when the effect of education only was assessed. No primary patient misidentification was detected in this small study. The annual costs for a hospital to adopt the education programme with and without the armband scanner were $104 045 and $5330 respectively. Conclusion ED staff had poor behaviours for identifying patients and labelling pathology specimens before intervention. These safety behaviours were considered an assumed skill. Education alone improved critical KBs markedly that was further augmented by the armband scanner. The cost to adopt education alone is relatively low compared to the addition of armband scanner technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study describes the proportion of emergency department (ED) returns within 7 days due to adverse events, defined as adverse outcomes related to healthcare received. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting We used an electronically triggered adverse event surveillance system at a tertiary care ED from May to June 2010 to examine ED returns within 7 days of index visit. Participants One of three trained nurses determined whether the visit was related to index emergency care. For such records, one of three trained emergency physicians conducted adverse event determinations. Main outcome measure We determined adverse event type and severity and analysed the data with descriptive statistics, χ2 tests and logistic regression. Results Of 13 495 index ED visits, 923 (6.8%) were followed by ED returns within 7 days. The median age of all patients was 47 years and 52.8% were women. After nursing review, 211 cases required physician review. Of these, 53 visits were adverse events ( positive predictive value (PPV)=5.7%, 95% CI 4.4% to 7.4%) and 30 (56.6%) were preventable. Common adverse event types involved management, diagnostic or medication issues. We observed one potentially preventable death and 58.5% of adverse events resulting in transient disability. The PPV of a modified trigger with a cut-off of return within 72 h, resulting in admission was 11.9% (95% CI 6.8% to 18.9%). Conclusions Our electronic trigger efficiently identified adverse events among 12% of patients with ED returns within 72 h, requiring hospital admission. Given the high degree of preventability of the identified adverse events, this trigger also holds promise as a performance measurement tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of Leach et al.'s (2008) model of in-group identification in two studies using Russian samples (overall N = 621). In Study 1, a series of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the hierarchical model of in-group identification, which included two second-order factors, self-definition (individual self-stereotyping, and in-group homogeneity) and self-investment (satisfaction, solidarity, and centrality), fitted the data well for all four group identities (ethnic, religious, university, and gender) (CFI > .93, TLI > .92, RMSEA < .06, SRMR < .06) and demonstrated a better fit, compared to the alternative models. In Study 2, the construct validity and reliability of the Russian version of the in-group identification measure was examined. Results show that these measures have adequate psychometric properties. In short, our results show that Leach et al.'s model is reproduced in Russian culture. The Russian version of this measure can be recommended for use in future in-group research in Russian-speaking samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Obesity prevention has emerged as one of public health's top priorities. Public health agencies need reliable data on population health status to guide prevention efforts. Existing survey data sources provide county-level estimates; obtaining sub-county estimates from survey data can be prohibitively expensive. State-issued identification cards are an alternate data source for community-level obesity estimates. We computed body mass index for 3.2 million adult Oregonians who were issued a driver license or identification card between 2003 and 2010. Statewide estimates of obesity prevalence and average body mass index were compared to the Oregon Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). After geocoding addresses we calculated average adult body mass index for every census tract and block group in the state. Sub-county estimates reveal striking patterns in the population's weight status. Annual obesity prevalence estimates from identification cards averaged 18% lower than the BRFSS for men and 31% lower for women. Body mass index estimates averaged 2% lower than the BRFSS for men and 5% lower for women. Identification card records are a promising data source to augment tracking of obesity. People do tend to misrepresent their weight, but the consistent bias does not obscure patterns and trends. Large numbers of records allow for stable estimates for small geographic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether squalor-dwelling Adult Protective Services (APS) clients were more cognitively impaired than non–squalor-dwelling APS clients referred for decision-making capacity assessments. The authors performed a retrospective medical record review of neuropsychological and demographic data gathered during decisional capacity assessments. Squalor dwelling was defined by unsanitary living conditions that posed a danger to the occupant’s health or safety. Mean neuropsychological test scores were compared between squalor-dwelling (n= 50) and non–squalor-dwelling (n= 180) subjects. Squalor-dwelling clients were significantly younger than non–squalor-dwelling clients. There were no distribution differences among gender, education, race, or rural-dwelling status. Although both groups performed poorly on each neuropsychological measure, squalor dwellers demonstrated better memory and general cognitive performance. Cognition, depression, gender, race, education, dementia diagnosis, and rural-dwelling status seem insufficient to explain squalor-dwelling behaviors. Other biological and psychosocial variables should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Prior studies (e.g., Nath & Beauchamp, 2012) report large individual variability in the extent to which participants are susceptible to the McGurk effect, a prominent audiovisual (AV) speech illusion. The current study evaluated whether susceptibility to the McGurk effect (MGS) is related to lipreading skill and whether multiple measures of MGS that have been used previously are correlated. In addition, it evaluated the test–retest reliability of individual differences in MGS. Method: Seventy-three college-age participants completed 2 tasks measuring MGS and 3 measures of lipreading skill. Fifty-eight participants returned for a 2nd session (approximately 2 months later) in which MGS was tested again. Results: The current study demonstrated that MGS shows high test–retest reliability and is correlated with some measures of lipreading skill. In addition, susceptibility measures derived from identification tasks were moderately related to the ability to detect instances of AV incongruity. Conclusions: Although MGS is often cited as a demonstration of AV integration, the results suggest that perceiving the illusion depends in part on individual differences in lipreading skill and detecting AV incongruity. Therefore, individual differences in susceptibility to the illusion are not solely attributable to individual differences in AV integration ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine whether distinct subgroups of preschool children with speech sound disorders (SSD) could be identified using a subgroup discovery algorithm (SUBgroup discovery via Alternate Random Processes, or SUBARP). Of specific interest was finding evidence of a subgroup of SSD exhibiting performance consistent with atypical speech motor control. Method: Ninety-seven preschool children with SSD completed speech and nonspeech tasks. Fifty-three kinematic, acoustic, and behavioral measures from these tasks were input to SUBARP. Results: Two distinct subgroups were identified from the larger sample. The 1st subgroup (76%; population prevalence estimate = 67.8%–84.8%) did not have characteristics that would suggest atypical speech motor control. The 2nd subgroup (10.3%; population prevalence estimate = 4.3%– 16.5%) exhibited significantly higher variability in measures of articulatory kinematics and poor ability to imitate iambic lexical stress, suggesting atypical speech motor control. Both subgroups were consistent with classes of SSD in the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS; Shriberg et al., 2010a). Conclusion: Characteristics of children in the larger subgroup were consistent with the proportionally large SDCS class termed speech delay; characteristics of children in the smaller subgroup were consistent with the SDCS subtype termed motor speech disorder—not otherwise specified. The authors identified candidate measures to identify children in each of these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]