Automatic near real-time selection of flood water levels from high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar images for assimilation into hydraulic models: a case study

Flood extents caused by fluvial floods in urban and rural areas may be predicted by hydraulic models. Assimilation may be used to correct the model state and improve the estimates of the model parameters or external forcing. One common observation assimilated is the water level at various points along the modelled reach. Distributed water levels may be estimated indirectly along the flood extents in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images by intersecting the extents with the floodplain topography. It is necessary to select a subset of levels for assimilation because adjacent levels along the flood extent will be strongly correlated. A method for selecting such a subset automatically and in near real-time is described, which would allow the SAR water levels to be used in a forecasting model. The method first selects candidate waterline points in flooded rural areas having low slope. The waterline levels and positions are corrected for the effects of double reflections between the water surface and emergent vegetation at the flood edge. Waterline points are also selected in flooded urban areas away from radar shadow and layover caused by buildings, with levels similar to those in adjacent rural areas. The resulting points are thinned to reduce spatial autocorrelation using a top-down clustering approach. The method was developed using a TerraSAR-X image from a particular case study involving urban and rural flooding. The waterline points extracted proved to be spatially uncorrelated, with levels reasonably similar to those determined manually from aerial photographs, and in good agreement with those of nearby gauges.

Effect of triclosan or a phenolic farm disinfectant on the selection of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella enterica

Objective: To determine the effect of growth of five strains of Salmonella enterica and their isogenic multiply antibiotic-resistant (MAR) derivatives with a phenolic farm disinfectant or triclosan (biocides) upon the frequency of mutation to resistance to antibiotics or cyclohexane. Methods: Strains were grown in broth with or without the biocides and then spread on to agar containing ampicillin, ciprofloxacin or tetracycline each at 4x MIC or agar overlaid with cyclohexane. Incubation was for 24 and 48 h and the frequency of mutation to resistance was calculated for strains with and without prior growth with the biocides. MICs were determined and the presence of mutations in the acrR and marR regions was determined by sequencing and the presence of mutations in gyrA by light-cycler analysis, for a selection of the mutants that arose. Results: The mean frequency of mutation to antibiotic or cyclohexane resistance was increased similar to10- to 100-fold by prior growth with the phenolic disinfectant or triclosan. The increases were statistically significant for all antibiotics and cyclohexane following exposure to the phenolic disinfectant (P less than or equal to 0.013), and for ampicillin and cyclohexane following exposure to triclosan (P less than or equal to 0.009). Mutants inhibited by >1 mg/L ciprofloxacin arose only from strains that were MAR. Reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (at 4x MIC for parent strains) alone was associated with mutations in gyrA. MAR mutants did not contain mutations in the acrR or marR region. Conclusions: These data renew fears that the use of biocides may lead to an increased selective pressure towards antibiotic resistance.

Modification of enrofloxacin treatment regimens for poultry experimentally infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium DT104 to minimize selection of resistance

We hypothesized that higher doses of fluoroquinolones for a shorter duration could maintain efficacy (as measured by reduction in bacterial count) while reducing selection in chickens of bacteria with reduced susceptibility. Chicks were infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium DT104 and treated 1 week later with enrofloxacin at the recommended dose for 5 days (water dose adjusted to give 10 mg/kg of body weight of birds or equivalence, i.e., water at 50 ppm) or at 2.5 or 5 times the recommended dose for 2 days or 1 day, respectively. The dose was delivered continuously (ppm) or pulsed in the water (mg/kg) or by gavage (mg/kg). In vitro in sera, increasing concentrations of 0.5 to 8 mu g/ml enrofloxacin correlated with increased activity. In vivo, the efficacy of the 1-day treatment was significantly less than that of the 2- and 5-day treatments. The 2-day treatments showed efficacy similar to that of the 5-day treatment in all but one repeat treatment group and significantly (P < 0.01) reduced the Salmonella counts. Dosing at 2.5x the recommended dose and pulsed dosing both increased the peak antibiotic concentrations in cecal contents, liver, lung, and sera as determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography. There was limited evidence that shorter treatment regimens (in particular the 1-day regimen) selected for fewer strains with reduced susceptibility. In conclusion, the 2-day treatment would overall require a shorter withholding time than the 5-day treatment and, in view of the increased peak antibiotic concentrations, may give rise to improved efficacy, in particular for treating respiratory and systemic infections. However, it would be necessary to validate the 2-day regimen in a field situation and in particular against respiratory and systemic infections to validate or refute this hypothesis.

An effective approach for selection of terrain modelling method

This letter presents an effective approach for selection of appropriate terrain modeling methods in forming a digital elevation model (DEM). This approach achieves a balance between modeling accuracy and modeling speed. A terrain complexity index is defined to represent a terrain's complexity. A support vector machine (SVM) classifies terrain surfaces into either complex or moderate based on this index associated with the terrain elevation range. The classification result recommends a terrain modeling method for a given data set in accordance with its required modeling accuracy. Sample terrain data from the lunar surface are used in constructing an experimental data set. The results have shown that the terrain complexity index properly reflects the terrain complexity, and the SVM classifier derived from both the terrain complexity index and the terrain elevation range is more effective and generic than that designed from either the terrain complexity index or the terrain elevation range only. The statistical results have shown that the average classification accuracy of SVMs is about 84.3% ± 0.9% for terrain types (complex or moderate). For various ratios of complex and moderate terrain types in a selected data set, the DEM modeling speed increases up to 19.5% with given DEM accuracy.

An evolutionary innovation perspective on the selection of low and zero carbon technologies in new housing

The Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) will require new homes in the United Kingdom to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016. Drawing upon an evolutionary innovation perspective, this paper contributes to a gap in the literature by investigating which low and zero carbon technologies are actually being used by house builders, rather than the prevailing emphasis on the potentiality of these technologies. Using the results from a questionnaire three empirical contributions are made. First, house builders are selecting a narrow range of technologies. Second, these choices are made to minimise the disruption to their standard design and production templates (SDPTs). Finally, the coalescence around a small group of technologies is expected to intensify with solar-based technologies predicted to become more important. This paper challenges the dominant technical rationality in the literature that technical efficiency and cost benefits are the primary drivers for technology selection. These drivers play an important role but one which is mediated by the logic of maintaining the SDPTs of the house builders. This emphasises the need for construction diffusion of innovation theory to be problematized and developed within the context of business and market regimes constrained and reproduced by resilient technological trajectories.

Selection of potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria from fermented olives by in vitro tests

The present study aims to evaluate the probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from naturally fermented olives and select candidates to be used as probiotic starters for the improvement of the traditional fermentation process and the production of newly added value functional foods. Seventy one (71) lactic acid bacterial strains (17 Leuconostoc mesenteroides, 1 Ln. pseudomesenteroides, 13 Lactobacillus plantarum, 37 Lb. pentosus, 1 Lb. paraplantarum, and 2 Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei) isolated from table olives were screened for their probiotic potential. Lb. rhamnosus GG and Lb. casei Shirota were used as reference strains. The in vitro tests included survival in simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions, antimicrobial activity (against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7), Caco-2 surface adhesion, resistance to 9 antibiotics and haemolytic activity. Three (3) Lb. pentosus, 4 Lb. plantarum and 2 Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei strains demonstrated the highest final population (>8 log cfu/ml) after 3 h of exposure at low pH. The majority of the tested strains were resistant to bile salts even after 4 h of exposure, while 5 Lb. plantarum and 7 Lb. pentosus strains exhibited partial bile salt hydrolase activity. None of the strains inhibited the growth of the pathogens tested. Variable efficiency to adhere to Caco-2 cells was observed. This was the same regarding strains' susceptibility towards different antibiotics. None of the strains exhibited β-haemolytic activity. As a whole, 4 strains of Lb. pentosus, 3 strains of Lb. plantarum and 2 strains of Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei were found to possess desirable in vitro probiotic properties similar to or even better than the reference probiotic strains Lb. casei Shirota and Lb. rhamnosus GG. These strains are good candidates for further investigation both with in vivo studies to elucidate their potential health benefits and in olive fermentation processes to assess their technological performance as novel probiotic starters.

Towards optimizing the selection of neurons in affordable neural networks

This paper considers variations of a neuron pool selection method known as Affordable Neural Network (AfNN). A saliency measure, based on the second derivative of the objective function is proposed to assess the ability of a trained AfNN to provide neuronal redundancy. The discrepancies between the various affordability variants are explained by correlating unique sub group selections with relevant saliency variations. Overall this study shows that the method in which neurons are selected from a pool is more relevant to how salient individual neurons are, than how often a particular neuron is used during training. The findings herein are relevant to not only providing an analogy to brain function but, also, in optimizing the way a neural network using the affordability method is trained.

The absent body: representations of dying early modern women in a selection of seventeenth-century diaries

This article seeks to explore the absence of the body in the depiction of dying women in a selection of seventeenth-century diaries. It considers the cultural forces that made this absence inevitable, and the means by which the physical body was replaced in death by a spiritual presence. The elevation of a dying woman from physical carer to spiritual nurturer in the days before death ensured that gender codes were not broken. The centrality of the body of the dying woman, within a female circle of care and support, was paradoxically juxtaposed with an effacement of the body in descriptions of a good death. In death, a woman might achieve the stillness, silence and compliance so essential to perfect early modern womanhood, and retrospective diary entries can achieve this ideal by replacing the body with images that deflect from the essential physicality of the woman.

Criteria for validation and selection of cognitive tests for investigating the effects of foods and nutrients.

This review is an output of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe Marker Initiative, which aims to identify evidence-based criteria for selecting adequate measures of nutrient effects on health through comprehensive literature review. Experts in cognitive and nutrition sciences examined the applicability of these proposed criteria to the field of cognition with respect to the various cognitive domains usually assessed to reflect brain or neurological function. This review covers cognitive domains important in the assessment of neuronal integrity and function, commonly used tests and their state of validation, and the application of the measures to studies of nutrition and nutritional intervention trials. The aim is to identify domain-specific cognitive tests that are sensitive to nutrient interventions and from which guidance can be provided to aid the application of selection criteria for choosing the most suitable tests for proposed nutritional intervention studies using cognitive outcomes. The material in this review serves as a background and guidance document for nutritionists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists interested in assessing mental health in terms of cognitive test performance and for scientists intending to test the effects of food or food components on cognitive function.

Systematic selection of analogue redesign method for forward-type digital power converters

This article proposes a systematic approach to determine the most suitable analogue redesign method to be used for forward-type converters under digital voltage mode control. The focus of the method is to achieve the highest phase margin at the particular switching and crossover frequencies chosen by the designer. It is shown that at high crossover frequencies with respect to switching frequency, controllers designed using backward integration have the largest phase margin; whereas at low crossover frequencies with respect to switching frequency, controllers designed using bilinear integration with pre-warping have the largest phase margins. An algorithm has been developed to determine the frequency of the crossing point where the recommended discretisation method changes. An accurate model of the power stage is used for simulation and experimental results from a Buck converter are collected. The performance of the digital controllers is compared to that of the equivalent analogue controller both in simulation and experiment. Excellent closeness between the simulation and experimental results is presented. This work provides a concrete example to allow academics and engineers to systematically choose a discretisation method.

The influence of anxiety on the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry

Neurocognitive theories of anxiety predict that threat-related information can be evaluated before attentional selection, and can influence behaviour differentially in high anxious compared to low anxious individuals. We investigate this further by presenting emotional and neutral faces in an adapted binocular rivalry paradigm. We show that the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry is highly influenced by self-reported state and trait anxiety-level. Heightened anxiety was correlated with increased perception of angry and fearful faces, and decreased perception of happy expressions. These results are consistent with recent evidence of involuntary selection of threat in anxiety.

Olfactory selection of Plantago lanceolata by snails declines with seedling age

Background and Aims Despite recent recognition that (1) plant–herbivore interactions during the establishment phase, (2) ontogenetic shifts in resource allocation and (3) herbivore response to plant volatile release are each pivotal to a comprehensive understanding of plant defence, no study has examined how herbivore olfactory response varies during seedling ontogeny. Methods Using a Y-tube olfactometer we examined snail (Helix aspersa) olfactory response to pellets derived from macerated Plantago lanceolata plants harvested at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 weeks of age to test the hypothesis that olfactory selection of plants by a generalist herbivore varies with plant age. Plant volatiles were collected for 10 min using solid-phase microextraction technique on 1- and 8-week-old P. lanceolata pellets and analysed by gas chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometer. Key Results Selection of P. lanceolata was strongly negatively correlated with increasing age; pellets derived from 1-week-old seedlings were three times more likely to be selected as those from 8-week-old plants. Comparison of plant selection experiments with plant volatile profiles from GC/MS suggests that patterns of olfactory selection may be linked to ontogenetic shifts in concentrations of green leaf volatiles and ethanol (and its hydrolysis derivatives). Conclusions Although confirmatory of predictions made by contemporary plant defence theory, this is the first study to elucidate a link between seedling age and olfactory selection by herbivores. As a consequence, this study provides a new perspective on the ontogenetic expression of seedling defence, and the role of seedling herbivores, particularly terrestrial molluscs, as selective agents in temperate plant communities.

Flexible selection of a single treatment incorporating short-term endpoint information in a phase II/III clinical trial

Seamless phase II/III clinical trials in which an experimental treatment is selected at an interim analysis have been the focus of much recent research interest. Many of the methods proposed are based on the group sequential approach. This paper considers designs of this type in which the treatment selection can be based on short-term endpoint information for more patients than have primary endpoint data available. We show that in such a case, the familywise type I error rate may be inflated if previously proposed group sequential methods are used and the treatment selection rule is not specified in advance. A method is proposed to avoid this inflation by considering the treatment selection that maximises the conditional error given the data available at the interim analysis. A simulation study is reported that illustrates the type I error rate inflation and compares the power of the new approach with two other methods: a combination testing approach and a group sequential method that does not use the short-term endpoint data, both of which also strongly control the type I error rate. The new method is also illustrated through application to a study in Alzheimer's disease. © 2015 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Genetic Algorithm for the selection of structural MRI features for classification of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease

This work investigates the problem of feature selection in neuroimaging features from structural MRI brain images for the classification of subjects as healthy controls, suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer’s Disease. A Genetic Algorithm wrapper method for feature selection is adopted in conjunction with a Support Vector Machine classifier. In very large feature sets, feature selection is found to be redundant as the accuracy is often worsened when compared to an Support Vector Machine with no feature selection. However, when just the hippocampal subfields are used, feature selection shows a significant improvement of the classification accuracy. Three-class Support Vector Machines and two-class Support Vector Machines combined with weighted voting are also compared with the former and found more useful. The highest accuracy achieved at classifying the test data was 65.5% using a genetic algorithm for feature selection with a three-class Support Vector Machine classifier.