Space-dependent color gamut mapping: a variational approach.

Gamut mapping deals with the need to adjust a color image to fit into the constrained color gamut of a given rendering medium. A typical use for this tool is the reproduction of a color image prior to its printing, such that it exploits best the given printer/medium color gamut, namely the colors the printer can produce on the given medium. Most of the classical gamut mapping methods involve a pixel-by-pixel mapping and ignore the spatial color configuration. Recently proposed spatial-dependent approaches for gamut mapping are either based on heuristic assumptions or involve a high computational cost. In this paper, we present a new variational approach for space-dependent gamut mapping. Our treatment starts with the presentation of a new measure for the problem, closely related to a recent measure proposed for Retinex. We also link our method to recent measures that attempt to couple spectral and spatial perceptual measures. It is shown that the gamut mapping problem leads to a quadratic programming formulation, guaranteed to have a unique solution if the gamut of the target device is convex. An efficient numerical solution is proposed with promising results.     

Introduction of a nonlinearity measure for principal component models

Although principal component analysis (PCA) is an important tool in standard multivariate data analysis, little interest has been devoted to assessing whether the underlying relationship within a given variable set can be described by a linear PCA model or whether nonlinear PCA must be utilized. This paper addresses this deficiency by introducing a nonlinearity measure for principal component models. The measure is based on the following two principles: (i) the range of recorded process operation is divided into smaller regions; and (ii) accuracy bounds are determined for the sum of the discarded eigenvalues. If this sum is within the accuracy bounds for each region, the process is assumed to be linear and vice versa. This procedure is automated through the use of cross-validation. Finally, the paper shows the utility of the new nonlinearity measure using two simulation studies and with data from an industrial melter process.     

Fuzzy coding of genetic algorithms

A new chromosome encoding method, named fuzzy coding, is proposed for representing real number parameters in a genetic algorithm. Fuzzy coding provides the value of a parameter on the basis of the optimum number of selected fuzzy sets and their effectiveness in terms of degree of membership. Thus, it represents the knowledge associated with each parameter and is an indirect method of encoding compared with alternatives, where the parameters are directly represented in the encoding. Fuzzy coding is described and compared with conventional binary coding, gray coding, and floating-point coding. Two test examples, along with neural identification of a nonlinear pH process from experimental data, are studied. It is shown that fuzzy coding is better than the conventional methods and is effective for parameter optimization in problems where the search space is complicated.     

Immunity and depression: insomnia, retardation, and reduction of natural killer cell activity

The contribution of chloride to the haemodynamic changes of salt-dependent deoxycorticosterone (DOC) hypertension was studied in young Wistar rats subjected to dietary loading with sodium chloride (NaCl) or sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). Mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output, systemic resistance (TPR) and arterial rigidity (estimated from pulse pressure/stroke volume ratio, PP/SV) were determined in conscious chronically cannulated rats. DOC-induced increase of MAP and TPR appeared earlier in NaCl-loaded than in NaHCO3-loaded rats. After 4-6 weeks of hypertensive treatment MAP, TPR and PP/SV ratio were higher in DOC-treated rats fed NaCl diet than in those fed NaHCO3 diet. In contrast, after a long-term hypertensive regimen (lasting for 7-9 weeks) there was no significant difference in either MAP or TPR between rats loaded with NaCl or NaHCO3. On the other hand, DOC hypertension induced by a long-term feeding of NaHCO3 diet was not associated with an increase of arterial rigidity which was characteristic for DOC-NaCl hypertensive rats. Thus, a sufficiently long selective dietary sodium loading is capable to increase the systemic resistance but not to alter the arterial rigidity. This was also confirmed by a comparison of blood pressure-matched DOC hypertensive rats fed NaCl or NaHCO3 diets. These animals did not differ in the degree of systemic resistance elevation but the arterial rigidity was increased only in NaCl-loaded rats.     

Moisture migration in idealized bilayer systems: relationships among water-associated properties, structure, and texture

The effects of composition and thermal treatment on the water sorption and diffusional properties of idealized protein gels arranged in bilayer configurations were determined; these water binding/migration properties were related to the mechanical characteristics of the gels. Samples were prepared from whey protein concentrate (WPC), they consisted of water:WPC ratios of 1.5 to 5.67, and were thermally set for 20–60 min. Moisture migration rates from samples interfaced with filters were determined, as were moisture sorption capacities of samples immersed in water. The physical properties of the gels were assessed by uniaxial compression and microscopy. Results showed that gel strength and consequent extent of protein interaction—as affected by thermal treatment—controlled the ability of the gel structure to absorb water. Sorption was exponentially correlated with gel modulus and linearly correlated with a function of protein content, heating time, and immersion time. Rates of diffusion from interfaced gels were dependent solely on water content. It was concluded that the degree of protein interaction, whether influenced by concentration or thermal treatment, affected network extensibility and thus the capacity of the gels to act as receptors of moisture. Results have implications for the functionality of shelf-stable sandwiches and other multicomponent foods.     

Juror competence in civil trials: Effects of preinstruction and evidence technicality.

48 jury-eligible adults heard 1 of 4 versions of a tort trial. The design combined high and moderate levels of evidence technicality and the placement of substantive judicial instructions either before or after evidence presentation. Jurors given instructions before hearing the evidence for liability and before the evidence for compensation made clear distinctions among 4 differentially worthy plaintiffs, whereas jurors instructed after evidence presentation were not able to distinguish among the plaintiffs. Preinstructions enabled jurors to devise a causal model, as measured by both verbal representation of the evidence and recognition tests, that contained more probative evidence and less nonprobative and evaluative information than the models constructed by jurors who were postinstructed. Preinstructed jurors were better able than postinstructed jurors to correctly reject recognition items not part of the trial text and to correctly identify items from the trial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensory registration and informational persistence.

The view of iconic memory as a precategorical, high-capacity, quickly decaying visible memory has recently come under attack (e.g., M. Coltheart, 1980). Distinctions have been drawn between visible persistence, or the phenomenal trace of an extinguished stimulus, and informational persistence, knowledge about the visual properties of the stimulus. Two alternative conceptions of informational persistence were tested in 3 experiments with 13 university students and the present authors. One conception is that visual information persists in a visual memory that begins at stimulus offset and lasts for 150–300 msec, independently of exposure duration. The 2nd conception is that informational persistence arises from a nonvisual memory that contains spatial coordinates for displayed items along with identity codes for those items. In the experiments, 3?×?3 letter arrays were presented for durations ranging from 50 to 500 msec. A single character mask presented at varying intervals after array offset cued report of an entire row of the array. Comparison of the cued row's masked and unmasked letters revealed that spatially specific visual (i.e., maskable) information persisted after stimulus offset, regardless of exposure duration. This result favors the visual conception of informational persistence. There was also support, however, for the nonvisual conception: Accuracy increased and item intrusion errors decreased as stimulus duration increased. Implications for models of informational persistence and for transsaccadic integration during reading are discussed. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual masking and visual integration across saccadic eye movements.

Studied visual masking and visual integration across saccadic eye movements in 4 experiments. In a 5th experiment, 4 randomly chosen dots from a 3?×?5 dot matrix were presented in 1 fixation, and 4 different dots from the matrix were presented in a 2nd fixation. Ss reported the location of the missing dot. When the 1st display was presented just before the saccade (as in Exps I–III), Ss accurately specified the missing dot location when the dots were presented to the same region of the retina but not when they were presented in the same place in space. When the 1st display was presented well before the saccade (as in Exp IV), Ss performed poorly regardless of retinal or spatial overlap. Results indicate the existence of a short-lived retinotopic visual persistence but provide no support for a spatiotopic visual persistence capable of fusing the contents of successive fixations. It is concluded that transsaccadic integration depends instead on an abstract memory that accumulates position and identity information about the contents of successive fixations. Results are discussed in relation to the work by M. L. Davidson et al (see record 1974-10245-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)