Conditional Discrimination Research Articles

An Underwater Localization Method Based on Visual SLAM for the Near-Bottom Environment

The feature matching of the near-bottom visual SLAM is influenced by underwater raised sediments, resulting in tracking loss. In this paper, the novel visual SLAM system is proposed in the underwater raised sediments environment. The underwater images are firstly classified based on the color recognition method by adding the weights of pixel location to reduce the interference of similar colors on the seabed. The improved adaptive median filter method is proposed to filter the classified images by using the mean value of the filter window border as the discriminant condition to retain the original features of the image. The filtered images are finally processed by the tracking module to obtain the trajectory of underwater vehicles and the seafloor maps. The datasets of seamount areas captured in the western Pacific Ocean are processed by the improved visual SLAM system. The keyframes, mapping points, and feature point matching pairs extracted from the improved visual SLAM system are improved by 5.2%, 11.2%, and 4.5% compared with that of the ORB-SLAM3 system, respectively. The improved visual SLAM system has the advantage of robustness to dynamic disturbances, which is of practical application in underwater vehicles operated in near-bottom areas such as seamounts and nodules.

피지컬 리터러시(Physical Literacy) 측정 도구 PPLI(Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument)의 타당성 연구: 한국 중학생 대상

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate validation of the Korean PPLI questionnaire, which can measure an individual’s perceived Physical Literacy, for middle school students in South Korea.
 Methods The subjects consisted of 608 students (male: 317 and female: 291) from the 1st to 3rd grade at five public middle schools in D Metropolitan City of Korea. The Korean PPLI scale for this study was completed through translation, reverse translation, and content review by expert groups. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, construct validity analysis were performed, using SPSS 26 and AMOS 27 statistical program.
 Results The results showed that first, the total score of the study participants ranged from 10 to 44 points, with a mean of 33.11 and male students had higher average scores than female one in all sub-factors. Second, the results of CFA, Chi-square (x2=146.233, df=24, p<.001), RMSEA=0.092, RMR=0.51, GFI=0.948. IFI=0.947, TLI=0..921, CFI=0.947 showed acceptable model fit. And as a result of examining the factor structures, the three-factor model outperformed alternative models. Third, as a result of the convergent validity analysis, the factor loading (0.59-0.91) of all items meet the criterion (>0.5), AVE value ranged from 0.361 to 0.651, and CR value ranged from 0.629 to 0.847. And as a result of the discriminant validity analysis, factor 1 and factor 3 were judged appropriate under the two discriminant conditions, but factor 2 was judged inappropriate due to the low AVE value in the first discrimination condition (AVE>r 2).
 Conclusions Based on the results of this study, the Korean PPLI questionnaire scale was a valid and reliable measurement tool among Korean adolescents. Therefore, it is expected to be used as a useful tool for understanding the perceived Physical Literacy of Korean adolescents.

Succeeding without belonging? A double comparison of migrants’ socio-economic attainment and national belonging across origin and residence countries

Abstract When is migrants’ socio-economic attainment associated with enhanced national belonging to their residence country? Drawing on a large-scale survey, we compare migrants from the same 10 origin countries across Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. We exploit this double comparison across origin groups and residence countries to contextualize mixed findings of positive, negative, and null associations between migrants’ socio-economic attainment and national belonging in earlier research. We introduce the notion of ethnic boundaries to situate when migrants’ socio-economic attainment and belonging are positively or negatively associated. We examine how migrants’ socio-economic attainment interacts with contextual variation in ethnic boundaries and with individual-level variation in perceptions of ethnic boundaries based on perceived group discrimination. Multi-group structural equation models show that migrants’ socio-economic attainment is often decoupled from national belonging. However, they also reveal crucial contextual variation as same-origin migrants can succeed socio-economically with or without feeling belonging in different residence countries. At the individual level, perceived group discrimination conditions this association, so that socio-economic attainment translates into more national belonging only when perceptions of discrimination are low. Our comparative findings of contingent national belonging thereby challenge existing assumptions that associations between socio-economic attainment and national belonging are linear and that ethnic boundaries in European migration contexts are rigid.

MAPPING OF GENDER INEQUALITY IN INDONESIA BASED ON INFLUENCING FACTORS USING GEOGRAPHICALLY WEIGHTED ORDINAL LOGISTIC REGRESSION

Gender inequality is a condition of discrimination between men and women that results from unequal social systems and structures. Gender inequality is measured based on the gender inequality index (IKG). This research aims to map gender inequality in Indonesia based on influencing factors and compare classification accuracy results between the GWOLR and ordinal logistic regression model. Data was obtained from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS RI) and KemenPPPA in the year of 2022. The Gender Inequality Index data as the response variable is categorized using an ordinal data scale, namely IKG (1) Low, IKG (2) Middle, and IKG (3) High with ten predictor variables from the dimensions of health, education, human empowerment, socio-culture, and employment, with the amount of data is 34 observation data. The research method uses geographically weighted ordinal logistic regression (GWOLR) based on exponential kernel weighting. In the data analysis stage, ordinal logistic regression is performed before applying GWOLR, and after the model is formed, the classification accuracy will be calculated. The results of this study indicate that mapping gender inequality in Indonesia based on influencing factors using the GWOLR model forms three groups. The first mapping location labeled as low inequality is influenced by women whose birth was attended by a health worker (X1), women who have a pre-employment card (X7), women who are employed (X8), and the percentage of women who married before the age of 17 (X10). The second mapping location labeled with middle inequality is influenced by women whose delivery is attended by a health worker (X1), women's net enrolment in higher education (X2), and women married before the age of 17 (X10). The three locations categorized as high inequality are influenced by female birth attendance by health personnel (X1), Women's Human Development Index (X3), female rape offenses (X4), female domestic violence offenses (X6), and female marriage under the age of 17 (X10). Modeling the Gender Inequality Index using the GWOLR model resulted in higher classification accuracy than the ordinal logistic regression model, which was 94.11%.

Influence of reinforcement and its omission on trial-by-trial changes of response bias in perceptual decision making.

Discrimination performance in perceptual choice tasks is known to reflect both sensory discriminability and nonsensory response bias. In the framework of signal detection theory, these aspects of discrimination performance are quantified through separate measures, sensitivity (d') for sensory discriminability and decision criterion (c) for response bias. However, it is unknown how response bias (i.e., criterion) changes at the single-trial level as a consequence of reinforcement history. We subjected rats to a two-stimulus two-response conditional discrimination task with auditory stimuli and induced response bias through unequal reinforcement probabilities for the two responses. We compared three signal-detection-theory-based criterion learning models with respect to their ability to fit experimentally observed fluctuations of response bias on a trial-by-trial level. These models shift the criterion by a fixed step (1) after each reinforced response or (2) after each nonreinforced response or (3) after both. We find that all three models fail to capture essential aspects of the data. Prompted by the observation that steady-state criterion values conformed well to a behavioral model of signal detection based on the generalized matching law, we constructed a trial-based version of this model and find that it provides a superior account of response bias fluctuations under changing reinforcement contingencies.

Cognitive and developmental contributions to psychometric functions on three auditory tasks during adolescence and young adulthood

Auditory perceptual tasks mature at different rates, with temporal tasks having longer developmental courses. We tested 10- to 23-year-olds on frequency discrimination, temporal-interval discrimination, and gap detection using the method of constant stimuli. During task performance, listening effort data were collected via eye-tracker. A cognitive battery was also administered. Thresholds correlated between the frequency and temporal-interval discrimination conditions, which shared the same standard stimulus, but not between other conditions. The slopes of the psychometric functions did not correlate between conditions, suggesting that different or time-varying factors might contribute to slopes on these conditions. Shallower psychometric functions corresponded to poorer thresholds on only the temporal-interval and gap conditions, implying a potential role for attention, engagement, fatigue, or the stability of the stimulus representations on those conditions. Regression modeling indicated a limited role of age: Age predicted thresholds on the temporal-interval discrimination condition and slopes on both the frequency and temporal-interval discrimination conditions. Testing order affected performance on frequency discrimination (threshold) and temporal-interval discrimination (threshold and slope). The measures of listening effort and cognition that predicted thresholds and slopes also differed between those two conditions. On gap detection, neither threshold nor slope was predicted by any variable. [Work funded by NIDCD.]

Development of the UPSIDES global mental health training programme for peer support workers: Perspectives from stakeholders in low, middle and high-income countries.

Peer support in mental health is a low-threshold intervention with increasing evidence for enhancing personal recovery and empowerment of persons living with severe mental health conditions. As peer support spreads globally, there is a growing need for peer support training programmes that work well in different contexts and cultures. This study evaluates the applicability and transferability of implementing a manualised multi-national training programme for mental health peer support workers called UPSIDES from the perspective of different local stakeholders in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Data from seven focus groups across six study sites in Africa (Tanzania, Uganda), Asia (India, Israel), and Europe (Germany 2 sites) with 44 participants (3 service users, 7 peer support workers, 25 mental health staff members, 6 clinical directors and 3 local community stakeholders) were thematically analysed. 397 codes were identified, which were thematically analysed. Five implementation enablers were identified: (i) Enhancing applicability through better guidance and clarity of training programme management, (ii) provision of sufficient time for training, (iii) addressing negative attitudes towards peer support workers by additional training of organisations and staff, (iv) inclusion of core components in the training manual such as communication skills, and (v) addressing cultural differences of society, mental health services and discrimination of mental health conditions. Participants in all focus groups discussed the implementation of the training and peer support intervention to a greater extent than the content of the training. This is in line with growing literature of difficulties in the implementation of peer support including difficulties in hiring peer support workers, lack of funding, and lack of role clarity. The results of this qualitative study with stakeholders from different mental health settings worldwide emphasises the need to further investigate the successful implementation of peer support training. All results have been incorporated into the manualisation of the UPSIDES peer support training.

Novel Method on Mixing Degree Quantification of Mine Water Sources: A Case Study

After a mine water inrush occurs, it is crucial to quickly identify the source of the water inrush and the key control area, and to formulate accurately efficient water control measures. According to the differences in water chemical characteristics of four aquifers in the Fenyuan coal mine, the concentrations of K+~Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42−, and HCO3− were taken as water source identification indexes. A decision tree classification model based on the C4.5 algorithm was adopted to visualize the chemical characteristics of a single water source and extract rules, and intuitively obtained the discrimination conditions of a single water source with Mg2+, Ca2+, and Cl− as important variables in the decision tree: Mg2+ < 39.585 mg/L, Cl− < 516.338 mg/L and Mg2+ ≥ 39.585 mg/L, Ca2+ < 160.860 mg/L. Factor analysis and Fisher discriminant theory were used to eliminate the redundant ion variables, and the discriminant function equations of the two, three, and four types of mixed water sources were obtained successively in turn. This paper puts forward MSE, RMSE, and MAE as the evaluation indexes of the water source mixing degree calculation models and obtains the ranking of the pros and cons of the mixed water source mixing degree calculation models. The results show that the minimum inscribed circle analytical method is the optimal model for the calculation of the mixing degree of two types of water sources, and the MSE, RMSE, and MAE are 0.17%, 4.13%, and 4.13%, respectively. The minimum inscribed circle clustering method is the optimal model for the calculation of the mixing degree of three types of water sources, and the minimum distance method is the optimal model for the calculation of the mixing degree of four types of water sources. The method of mine water source identification based on the decision tree C4.5 algorithm and mixing degree calculation has the characteristics of a simple calculation process, high efficiency, objective accuracy, and low cost, which can provide a scientific basis for the development of stope water control measures.

Lack of reinforcement is hard to “bear”: Assessing judgment bias in grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis)

ABSTRACT Cognitive biases reveal underlying affective state by indicating optimism and pessimism. This methodology may permit assessment of positive welfare in animals that have few validated positive welfare indicators, such as bears. Our goal was to validate a judgment bias test for assessing optimism in brown bears, using a touchscreen. After training the bears on a conditional discrimination, we compared responses to an ambiguous stimulus in a 2 × 2 nested design involving four experimental conditions representing presence or absence of a behind-the-scenes tour and presence or absence of a keeper training session with food reinforcement. We recorded bears’ behavior during the conditions as a measure of convergent validity. Testing revealed the possibility of pessimism in the absence of reinforcement in one bear. More frustration behaviors were also observed during the no food reinforcement conditions. This is the first experimental demonstration of brown bears using a touchscreen and one of only three reports in which bears have been reported to perform a conditional discrimination. This method of assessing underlying affective state shows promise for the future.

Digital Measures of Postural Sway Quantify Balance Deficits in Spinocerebellar Ataxia.

Maintaining balance is crucial for independence and quality of life. Loss of balance is a hallmark of spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA). The aim of this study was to identify which standing balance conditions and digital measures of body sway were most discriminative, reliable, and valid for quantifying balance in SCA. Fifty-three people with SCA (13 SCA1, 13 SCA2, 14 SCA3, and 13 SCA6) and Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) scores 9.28 ± 4.36 and 31 healthy controls were recruited. Subjects stood in six test conditions (natural stance, feet together and tandem, each with eyes open [EO] and eyes closed [EC]) with an inertial sensor on their lower back for 30 seconds (×2). We compared test completion rate, test-retest reliability, and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for seven digital sway measures. Pearson's correlations related sway with the SARA and the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure of Ataxia (PROM ataxia). Most individuals with SCA (85%-100%) could stand for 30 seconds with natural stance EO or EC, and with feet together EO. The most discriminative digital sway measures (path length, range, area, and root mean square) from the two most reliable and discriminative conditions (natural stance EC and feet together EO) showed intraclass correlation coefficients from 0.70 to 0.91 and AUCs from 0.83 to 0.93. Correlations of sway with SARA were significant (maximum r = 0.65 and 0.73). Correlations with PROM ataxia were mild to moderate (maximum r = 0.56 and 0.34). Inertial sensor measures of extent of postural sway in conditions of natural stance EC and feet together stance EO were discriminative, reliable, and valid for monitoring SCA. © 2024 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Effects of racial discrimination on stress, negative emotions, and alcohol craving: A registered report of a virtual reality experiment.

Racial discrimination experiences contribute to health disparities and can influence individuals' health. Yet, pathways by which discrimination-related experiences affect alcohol craving remain understudied using experimental designs. Additionally, limited research has examined possible differential effects of "major" discrimination and microaggression experiences in everyday life on alcohol craving. This between-groups experiment examined causal effects of everyday racial discrimination on stress, negative emotions, and alcohol craving. We also tested indirect pathways by which discrimination-related experiences were linked to alcohol craving via stress and negative emotions. People of color and Indigenous peoples participated in the study (N = 184; Mage = 23.90; 47.8% women; 48.9% community adults). Participants were randomized to one of four experimental conditions, in which they experienced in virtual environments either "major" discrimination, microinsult, microinvalidation, or daily hassles unrelated to race/racism. Participants' levels of stress, negative emotions, and alcohol craving were assessed immediately before and after experimental simulations. Compared to daily hassles unrelated to race/racism, simulated racial discrimination elicited greater stress and negative emotions. Daily hassles caused greater alcohol craving among those who endorsed higher levels of coping motives for drinking. We observed minimal differences in stress and negative emotions across the three racial discrimination conditions, and found no evidence supporting indirect links between racial discrimination and alcohol craving via stress and negative emotions. Everyday racial discrimination-regardless of intensity level-is more stressful than daily hassles unrelated to race/racism. Future research should examine cumulative effects of racial discrimination, and understanding individual difference factors that moderate its immediate and delayed effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

KASP-IEva: an intelligent typing evaluation model for KASP primers.

KASP marker technology has been used in molecular marker-assisted breeding because of its high efficiency and flexibility, and an intelligent evaluation model of KASP marker primer typing results is essential to improve the efficiency of marker development on a large scale. To this end, this paper proposes a gene population delineation method based on NTC identification module and data distribution judgment module to improve the accuracy of K-Means clustering, and introduces a decision tree to construct the KASP-IEva primer typing evaluation model. The model firstly designs the NTC identification module and data distribution judgment module to extract four types of data, grouping and categorizing to achieve the improvement of the distinguishability of amplification product signals; secondly, the K-Means algorithm is used to aggregate and classify the data, to visualize the five aggregated clusters and to obtain the morphology location eigenvalues; lastly, the evaluation criteria for the typing effect level are constructed, and the logical decision tree is used to make conditional discrimination on the eigenvalues in order to realize the score prediction. The performance of the model was tested by the KASP marker typing test results of 2519 groups of cotton varieties, and the following conclusions were obtained: the model is able to visualize the aggregation and classification effects of the amplification products of NTC, pure genotypes, heterozygous genotypes, and untyped genotypes, enabling rapid and accurate KASP marker typing evaluation. Comparing and analyzing the model evaluation results with the expert evaluation results, the average accuracy rate of the four grades evaluated by the model was 87%, and the overall evaluation results showed an uneven distribution of the grades with significant differential characteristics. When evaluating 2519 KASP fractal maps, the expert evaluation consumes 15 hours, and the model evaluation only uses 8min27.45s, which makes the model intelligent evaluation significantly better than the expert evaluation from the perspective of time. The establishment of the model will further enhance the application of KASP markers in molecular marker-assisted breeding and provide technical support for the large-scale screening and identification of excellent genotypes.

Ultrasound Features of Nail Lichen Planus.

To describe the ultrasonographic features of nail lichen planus (NLP), which, so far, have not been reported in the literature. A retrospective single-center study of NLP patients' color Doppler ultrasound examinations was performed between March 2014 and January 2023. Inclusion criteria were patients ≥15 years with a confirmed clinical diagnosis of NLP in sequential order. Exclusion criteria included concomitant systemic or local cutaneous or nail diseases and systemic or local nail treatments before the ultrasound examination. The ultrasound protocol included the examination of all fingernails or toenails following the reported protocol for dermatologic ultrasound examinations at high and ultra-high frequencies. Patient demographics and ultrasound features of the nail bed, periungual region, nail plate, and regional vascularity were registered and analyzed statistically. A total of 36 patients met the criteria. All cases presented thickened and decreased echogenicity of the nail bed. A hypoechoic halo surrounding the origin of the nail plate was present in 78% of cases. Exactly 58% of patients presented decreased echogenicity of the proximal periungual dermis, and 86% showed thickening of the periungual dermis. Hypervascularity of the nail bed was seen in 94% of cases. The mean maximum thickness of vessels, the peak systolic velocity of the arterial vessels, and other blood flow findings are provided. Ultrasonography can support the diagnosis of NLP, which benefits the non-invasive discrimination of nail conditions and can avoid the potential permanent scars derived from nail biopsies. Furthermore, ultrasound may be a powerful tool to monitor this disease's treatment.

Association of Epigenetic Age and Everyday Discrimination With Longitudinal Trajectories of Chronic Health Conditions in Older Adults.

We investigated the strength of the association between baseline epigenetic age, everyday discrimination, and trajectories of chronic health conditions (CHCs) across 3 study waves, among adults 50 years of age and older. We used 2016-2020 data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Data for the PhenoAge and DNAm GrimAge second-generation epigenetic clocks were from the 2016 HRS Venous Blood Study. CHC trajectories were constructed using latent class growth curve models. Multinomial logistic regression models assessed the strength of the association between accelerated epigenetic age, everyday discrimination, and the newly constructed CHC trajectories for participants with complete data (n = 2893). In the fully adjusted model, accelerated PhenoAge (relative risk ratios [RRR] = 2.53, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.81, 3.55) and DNAm GrimAge (RRR = 2.79, 95% CI = 1.95, 4.00) were associated with classification into the high CHC trajectory class. Racial disparities were evident, with increased risk of classification into the high trajectory class for Black (PhenoAge: RRR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.07, 2.68) and reduced risk for Hispanic (PhenoAge: RRR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.16, 0.64; DNAm GrimAge: RRR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.17, 0.68), relative to White participants. Everyday discrimination was associated with classification into the medium-high (RRR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.00, 1.64) and high (RRR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.07, 2.16) trajectory classes in models assessing DNAm GrimAge. More research is needed to better understand the longitudinal health outcomes of accelerated aging and adverse social exposures. Such research may provide insights into vulnerable adults who may need varied welfare supports earlier than the mandated chronological age for access to federal and state resources.

Conditional discrimination learning by pigeons: Stimulus-response chains or occasion setters?

In conditional discrimination, the conditional stimulus or sample indicates which of two choice or comparison stimuli is associated with a reinforcer. Two hypotheses have been proposed concerning the role of the sample stimulus. According to Hull (1952), the sample and the response to the correct comparison form a stimulus-response chain. According to Skinner (1938), however, the sample serves as an occasion setter, setting the occasion for the choice of the correct comparison stimulus. In a conditional discrimination, if the sample stimulus forms part of a stimulus-response chain, then presenting the sample in the absence of the comparison stimuli should weaken the association. If the sample serves as an occasion setter, however, presenting the sample alone should not weaken its occasion-setting ability. In two experiments we tested these predictions. In Experiment 1, following conditional discrimination training with vertical and horizontal line samples and red and green comparison stimuli, we found that the presentation of the samples without the comparison stimuli (followed sometimes by a reinforcer) had little effect on conditional discrimination accuracy. In Experiment 2, two different houselights served as samples. When we presented the samples without comparison stimuli and without the reinforcers we found similar results. The results support the hypothesis that in conditional discrimination, the samples serve as occasion setters. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Noise-Tolerant Discrimination Indexes for Fuzzy ɣ Covering and Feature Subset Selection.

Fuzzy β covering (FBC) has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Nevertheless, as the basic information granularity of FBC, fuzzy β neighborhood does not satisfy reflexivity, which may lead to instability in classification learning and decision-making. Although a few studies have involved reflexive fuzzy β neighborhoods, they only focus on a single fuzzy covering and cannot effectively deal with the information representation and information fusion of multiple fuzzy coverings. Moreover, there is a lack of investigation on noise-tolerant uncertainty measures for FBC, as well as their application in feature selection. Motivated by these issues, we investigate a noise-tolerant variable precision discrimination index (VPDI) by means of a new reflexive fuzzy covering neighborhood. To this end, fuzzy ɣ neighborhood with reflexivity is introduced to characterize the information fusion of a fuzzy covering family. An uncertainty measure called fuzzy ɣ neighborhood discrimination index is then presented to reflect the discriminatory power of fuzzy covering families. Some variants of the uncertainty measure, such as variable precision joint discrimination index, variable precision conditional discrimination index, and variable precision mutual discrimination index, are then put forth by means of fuzzy decision. These VPDIs can be used as an evaluation metric for a family of fuzzy coverings. Finally, the knowledge reduction of fuzzy covering decision systems is addressed from the point of keeping the discriminatory power, and a heuristic feature selection algorithm is designed by means of the variable precision conditional discrimination index. The experiments on 16 public datasets exhibit that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce redundant features and achieve competitive results compared with six state-of-the-art feature selection algorithms. Moreover, it demonstrates strong robustness to the interference of random noise.

Comparative analysis of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains of food and human origin reveals overlapping populations

Given the increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, it is of great interest to investigate the risk of transmission associated with the prevalence of this pathogen. Some studies have described fresh raw poultry meat as a reservoir of MDR K. pneumoniae, including clinically relevant sequence types (ST) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) strains, indicating possible consumer exposure. This study compared 47 MDR strains of K. pneumoniae from poultry meat and human clinical isolates to assess similarities, including analysis of antimicrobial resistance profiles and virulence factors involved in infection. In addition, several biofilm culture methods were evaluated for reproducible assessment of biofilm formation in K. pneumoniae strains. Globally, no association between strain origin and STs, hypermucoviscosity, biofilm formation or serum resistance could be found between isolates of food and clinical origin, nor an associated AMR pattern, suggesting overlapping populations. We found that LB supplemented with glucose in microaerobiosis was the best discrimination condition for biofilm formation in the active attachment biofilm cultivation model. The biofilm formation capacity was strongly dependent on culture conditions, with a strain-specific response, but only a minor increase in biofilm levels was recorded in clinical K. pneumoniae populations. Our results suggest that a similar risk of zoonosis transmission from potentially virulent foodborne strains previously observed in E. coli is also present in this high-priority pathogen. This study further confirms that foodborne isolates of K. pneumoniae pose a risk to consumers and therefore this pathogen should be included in the surveillance of foodborne pathogens with high risk of MDR infections and therapeutic failure.

Response bias and differential outcomes effect in conditional discrimination with rats

Con la finalidad de evaluar el llamado efecto de consecuencias diferenciales, dos triadas de ratas se expusieron a un procedimiento de discriminación condicional de dos opciones. Para las ratas asignadas al grupo experimental, las respuestas correctas después de las señales condicionales auditiva y visual se reforzaron diferencialmente con pelletas de alimento y gotas de agua, respectivamente. Las pelletas de alimento y las gotas de agua reforzaron aleatoriamente las respuestas correctas para las ratas asignadas al grupo control. El porcentaje global de respuestas correctas fue mayor para el grupo experimental que para el grupo control, mientras que el porcentaje local de respuestas correctas difirió entre señales condicionales sólo para el grupo experimental. Los resultados se discuten en el contexto del efecto de consecuencias diferenciales y la psicología interconductual. Se concluye que bajo procedimientos de discriminación condicional de dos opciones, correlacionar señales y reforzadores favorece el establecimiento de discriminaciones simples independientes.

Voice Discrimination in Quiet and in Background Noise by Simulated and Real Cochlear Implant Users.

Cochlear implant (CI) users demonstrate poor voice discrimination (VD) in quiet conditions based on the speaker's fundamental frequency (fo) and formant frequencies (i.e., vocal-tract length [VTL]). Our purpose was to examine the effect of background noise at levels that allow good speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) on VD via acoustic CI simulations and CI hearing. Forty-eight normal-hearing (NH) listeners who listened via noise-excited (n = 20) or sinewave (n = 28) vocoders and 10 prelingually deaf CI users (i.e., whose hearing loss began before language acquisition) participated in the study. First, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that yields 70.7% correct SRT was assessed using an adaptive sentence-in-noise test. Next, the CI simulation listeners performed 12 adaptive VDs: six in quiet conditions, two with each cue (fo, VTL, fo + VTL), and six amid speech-shaped noise. The CI participants performed six VDs: one with each cue, in quiet and amid noise. SNR at VD testing was 5 dB higher than the individual's SRT in noise (SRTn +5 dB). Results showed the following: (a) Better VD was achieved via the noise-excited than the sinewave vocoder, with the noise-excited vocoder better mimicking CI VD; (b) background noise had a limited negative effect on VD, only for the CI simulation listeners; and (c) there was a significant association between SNR at testing and VTL VD only for the CI simulation listeners. For NH listeners who listen to CI simulations, noise that allows good SRT can nevertheless impede VD, probably because VD depends more on bottom-up sensory processing. Conversely, for prelingually deaf CI users, noise that allows good SRT hardly affects VD, suggesting that they rely strongly on bottom-up processing for both VD and speech recognition.

An analysis of instructor‐ and tablet‐presented conditional discriminations: Fidelity and rapidity

AbstractMatching‐to‐sample arrangements are commonly used to teach conditional discriminations. In these arrangements, instructors must systematically arrange instruction to ensure that a learner's response comes under the intended sources of stimulus control. Given the multitude of instructional considerations, the instructors' procedural fidelity has been a significant concern. Recently, LeBlanc et al. found that brief training and access to enhanced data sheets produced high levels of fidelity with experienced service providers. The current study extended LeBlanc et al. by examining the effects of a similar training on the fidelity and instructional pacing by participants with and without previous experience. The participants' performance was also compared when using a flashcard or binder (i.e., printed) arrays and relative to a tablet‐delivered instructional program. High levels of fidelity were observed following training, although pacing was slow. Slight differences in performance were observed across comparison arrays; nevertheless, the tablet‐based program outperformed instructors.