The role of environmental context in mapping invasive plants with hyperspectral image data

Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) is a noxious Eurasian weed invading riparian and wetland areas of the western US. Effective management of Lepidium requires detailed, accurate maps of its distribution, as may be provided by remote sensing, to contain existing infestations and eradicate incipient populations. We mapped Lepidium with 3 m spatial resolution, 128-band HyMap image data in three sites of California's San Francisco Bay/Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Rush Ranch in Suisun Marsh and the Greater Jepson Prairie Ecosystem and the Cosumnes River Preserve in the Delta). These sites are markedly different in terms of hydrology, salinity, species composition, and structural and landscape diversity. Aggregated classification and regression tree models (CART), incorporating the results of mixture tuned matched filter (MTMF) analyses and spectral physiological indexes, were used to map Lepidium at the three sites. This approach was sufficiently flexible and robust to detect Lepidium with similar accuracies (~ 90%) at both Rush Ranch and Jepson Prairie, but was unsuccessful at Cosumnes River Preserve. Comparisons of the behavior of the MTMFs and the CARTs between sites reveal the importance of environmental context in species mapping. Rush Ranch presents the simplest conditions for mapping Lepidium: it is the wettest and least diverse site and Lepidium is spectrally distinct from co-occurring species. At Jepson Prairie, several co-occurring species closely resemble Lepidium spectrally. Nevertheless, hyperspectral data provide sufficient spectral detail to resolve Lepidium even at this challenging site, which is facilitated by phenological separation from the matrix of annual grasses. At Cosumnes River Preserve, however, Lepidium is neither spectrally nor phenologically distinct, and consequently could not be mapped successfully. Evidence suggests that the success of a remote sensing analysis declines as site complexity increases (species, structural, and landscape diversity; spectral variability; etc.), although this relationship is complex, indirect, and may be phenology-dependent.     

Representation and selection of relative position.

Part 1 concerns representation: Pop-out for a target that can be distinguished from the distractors only by the relative position of its components was demonstrated, thereby showing that simple shape information is represented preattentively. Findings are discussed in terms of early- vs late-selection debate and in terms of theories of search and texture segregation. Part 2 concerns selection: Strong learning in a varied-mapping paradigm was demonstrated, and it was shown that preattentive shape information can be used for selection. Finally, an account of the learning, namely the group scale hypothesis, is suggested and a final experiment to test it is presented. Results confirm and extend the emphasis placed by J. Duncan and G. W. Humphreys's (1989) attentional engagement theory on grouping processes in visual search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intramuscular collagen characteristics of ram, wether, and zeranol-implanted ram lambs

Eighteen spring-born Columbia ram, wether, and zeranol-implanted ram lambs were studied to determine the influence of castration or zeranol implants on intramuscular collagen (IMC) properties and muscle shear force values. Warner-Bratzler shear force values for longissimus muscle were greatest for ram lambs, intermediate for implanted rams, and least for wethers (P < .05). Nonreducible collagen crosslink concentration was greater in IMC of rams and implanted rams (P < .05). The IMC from rams compared with that from wethers contained proportionately more Type III than Type I collagen (P < .05); values for implanted rams were intermediate. Heat-soluble muscle collagen concentration was greater for rams and implanted rams than for wethers (P < .05); however, insoluble collagen concentration did not differ by treatment. Muscle collagen concentrations were not different for rams, wethers, or implanted rams. Increased shear force values in rams were associated with elevated collagen crosslink concentration and increased proportion of Type III collagen. Greater concentration of soluble collagen in ram IMC neither diminished nor diluted IMC crosslinking. The proportion of heat-labile collagen in the fractions did not reflect the IMC crosslinking profile for ram and wether lambs. Zeranol implantation modified IMC characteristics of rams such that shear force values and some collagen properties were similar to those of wethers.     

A New Approach to Abstract Syntax with Variable Binding

The permutation model of set theory with atoms (FM-sets), devised by Fraenkel and Mostowski in the 1930s, supports notions of ‘name-abstraction’ and ‘fresh name’ that provide a new way to represent, compute with, and reason about the syntax of formal systems involving variable-binding operations. Inductively defined FM-sets involving the name-abstraction set former (together with Cartesian product and disjoint union) can correctly encode syntax modulo renaming of bound variables. In this way, the standard theory of algebraic data types can be extended to encompass signatures involving binding operators. In particular, there is an associated notion of structural recursion for defining syntax-manipulating functions (such as capture avoiding substitution, set of free variables, etc.) and a notion of proof by structural induction, both of which remain pleasingly close to informal practice in computer science. Received October 2000 / Accepted in revised form April 2001     

Roles of word frequency and age of acquisition in word naming and lexical decision.

Six experiments are reported that contrasted the effects of frequency and age of acquisition on written word recognition. Age of acquisition affected word-naming speed when frequency was controlled (Experiment 1), but there was no effect of frequency when age of acquisition was controlled (Experiment 2). Experiments 3 and 4 found an effect of age of acquisition upon immediate but not delayed naming speed, but no frequency effect on either immediate or delayed naming once age of acquisition was controlled. Independent effects of frequency and age of acquisition were observed in the lexical decision task (Experiments 5 and 6). Implications for theoretical accounts of word recognition and the possible roles of age of acquisition and frequency in word recognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynex: multiplex ELISA technology

Conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a gold standard for screening antibodies and testing for protein or antigen presence. A significant limitation of this assay resides in the fact that only one analyte can be assessed per microplate well. Here, we describe and investigate a new technology consisting of an automated ELISA system in which up to 10 analytes can be measured within one single well, thus improving productivity, accuracy, and repeatability by reducing the amount of human labor required. Another strength of the platform is that a user can load any necessary sets/subsets of beads to perform required assays, with improved flexibility compared to manufactured-loaded arrays for multiplex analysis. We also demonstrate that this system can be used to determine the pathogenicity (i.e., presence of Shiga toxins) and serotype (i.e., Escherichia coli O157) of E. coli isolates.     

Probabilistic heuristic estimates

Though they constitute the major knowledge source in problem-solving systems, no unified theory of heuristics has emerged. Pearl [15] defines heuristics as criteria, methods, or principles for deciding which among several alternative courses of action promises to be the most effective in order to achieve some goal. The absence of a more precise definition has impeded our efforts to understand, utilize, and discover heuristics. Another consequence is that problem-solving techniques which rely on heuristic knowledge cannot be relied upon to act rationally — in the sense of the normative theory of rationality.To provide a sound basis for BPS, the Bayesian Problem-Solver, we have developed a simple formal theory of heuristics, which is general enough to subsume traditional heuristic functions as well as other forms of problem-solving knowledge, and to straddle disparate problem domains. Probabilistic heuristic estimates represent a probabilistic association of sensations with prior experience — specifically, a mapping from observations directly to subjective probabilities which enables the use of theoretically principled mechanisms for coherent inference and decision making during problem-solving. This paper discusses some of the implications of this theory, and describes its successful application in BPS.This research was made possible by support from Heuristicrats, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Rand Corporation.