Conventional Classification Schemes Research Articles

The cutaneous pathology of lupus erythematosus: a review.

The presentation of lupus erythematosus (LE) ranges from a skin rash unaccompanied by extracutaneous stigmata to a rapidly progressive lethal multiorgan disease. The diagnosis and subclassification is traditionally based on the correlation of serological and clinical findings. The latter include a photoinduced skin rash, arthralgia, arthritis, fever, Raynaud's phenomenon, anemia, leukopenia, serositis, nephritis and central nervous sysdtem disease. The conventional classification scheme includes systemic, subacute cutaneous and discoid LE. Recent advances in our understanding of the cutaneous histopathology which correlates with the traditional forms of LE, along with certain novel LE subtypes, are the focus of this review. In addition to the main subtypes of LE, we will discuss associated vasculopathic lesions and the contribution of immunofluorescence microscopy to the diagnosis of LE and related connective tissue disease syndromes. Consideration will be given to unusual variants of LE such as anti-Ro/SSA-positive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), bullous SLE, lymphomatoid LE, lupus erythematosus profundus, drug induced LE, linear cutaneous LE, chiblains LE and parvovirus B19-associated LE.

Cutaneous lymphomas: A proposal for a unified approach to classification using the R.E.A.L./WHO Classification

The classification of cutaneous lymphomas has been controversial. The EORTC has proposed that conventional classification schemes are not suitable for cutaneous lymphomas, and that a unique classification system is required. The authors review the suitability of the R.E.A.L. Classification for cutaneous lymphomas, and compare it with the newly proposed EORTC system. The principles of the R.E.A.L. Classification have been adopted by the WHO committees for the classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid neoplasms. Each disease is defined as a distinct entity based on an integration of morphology, immunophenotypic and genetic features, clinical presentation and course, and normal cellular counterpart. If either primary or secondary involvement of the skin is a constant factor, this aspect is considered integral to disease definition. Organ-specific classification schemes may impede the recognition of common features of diseases involving multiple anatomic sites. For example, cutaneous marginal zone B-cell lymphomas (formerly designated cutaneous immunocytomas) mirror the features of MALT lymphomas in other anatomic sites. While the EORTC Classification for cutaneous lymphomas attempts to emphasize certain aspects of these neoplasms of importance to dermatologists, the use of multiple classification systems is a step backward, and may lead to confusion among hematologists/oncologists, and dermatologists. Nevertheless, cutaneous lymphomas often have a more indolent natural history than nodal lymphomas, and may require different therapeutic approaches. Clinical features are an important prognostic factor and should be utilized in guiding therapy. For cutaneous lymphomas the presence or absence of systemic spread is particularly important. Additionally, the site of origin is often important in the definition of disease entities. Organ-specific classification schemes, such as the EORTC Classification for cutaneous lymphomas, are not required, and indeed may impede the recognition of common features of diseases involving multiple anatomic sites. A common classification system, such as the R.E.A.L./WHO Classification, should be utilized for all lymphomas, regardless of the site of origin.

Relating lithofacies to hydrofacies: outcrop-based hydrogeological characterisation of Quaternary gravel deposits

Abstract A considerable part of today's drinking water supplies in Europe and North America rely on clean groundwater from gravelly valley aquifers of Quaternary age. The sedimentary architecture, the distribution of lithofacies and of architectural elements in such heterogeneous deposits are of fundamental importance for the analysis of groundwater flow and contaminant transport. As the aquifers are not directly accessible for observation, representative outcrop analogues were used to study the sedimentology on a local scale. Conventional sedimentological classification schemes were adapted for the purpose of hydrogeological evaluations. Measurements of hydraulic properties were then used to define a set of 5 hydrofacies from 23 possible sediment lithofacies. A digital-photographic mapping procedure was developed to allow fast data acquisition in the field. The sedimentologically interpreted outcrops were stored in a GIS style database and thus allow the output for further sedimentological or hydrogeological analysis.

Classification of multisource and hyperspectral data based on decision fusion

Multisource classification methods based on neural networks and statistical modeling are considered. For these methods, the individual data sources are at first treated separately and modeled by statistical methods. Then several decision fusion schemes are applied to combine the information from the individual data sources. These schemes include weighted consensus theory where the weights of the individual data sources reflect the reliability of the sources. The weights are optimized in order to improve the combined classification accuracies. Other considered decision fusion schemes are based on two-stage approaches which use voting in the first stage and reject samples if either the majority or all of the classifiers for the data sources do not agree on a classification of a sample. For the second stage, a neural network is used to classify the rejected samples. The proposed methods are applied in the classification of multisource and hyperdimensional data sets, and the results compared to accuracies obtained with conventional classification schemes.

The effective organization and utilization of non‐print resources

Attempts to highlight the important areas involved in the organization of non‐print resources. Areas covered include arrangement by subject content and format. Highlights the advantages of conventional classification schemes such as Library of Congress (LC) and Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in arranging non‐print resources by subject content. They facilitate an integrated approach and are not difficult to understand where they are already in use. Close classification is preferred in order to derive the full benefits of conventional schemes. Home‐made schemes are confusing since they are completely new schemes or adulterations of existing ones. Compares and contrasts the practice in two university libraries in Nigeria.

The Once and Future Library

In Fall 1995, a World Wide Web (WWW) virtual library was established to investigate the applicability of using a conventional library classification scheme as an organizational framework for enhancing identification, access and use of Internet resources (McKiernan 1995). Named CyberStacks(sm), this service has adopted an outline of the Library of Congress classification schedules as a system for indicating broad and specific relationships among selected Net resources. This article describes CyberStacks(sm) and highlights advantages and limitations of this resource.

Pattern recognition based on morphological shape analysis and neural networks

Morphological transformations are efficient methods for shape analysis and representation. In this paper two morphological shape descriptors are described for object feature representation. Neural networks are then employed for object recognition and classification. Various coding schemes and training procedures are examined in order to achieve a high classification performance. Complete classification and recognition schemes are proposed, which are shown to work satisfactorily even for objects distorted by quantization noise as well as partially invisible objects. Classification results are compared with those obtained by other shape descriptors which use conventional recognition and classification schemes.

The Definition, Diagnosis, and Classification of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis can be defined in terms of apparent bone density and can be determined by densitometry. But differences between reference standards and instruments make standardization difficult. Conventional classification schemes are not applicable but analysis by risk factors does permit a systematic approach.

The alkaline amylase of the alkalophilic Bacillus sp. IMD 370

A novel extracellular amylase of alkalophilic Bacillus sp. IMD 370 was purified to homogeneity and displayed maxima for activity at pH 10.0 and 40°C. It had an isoelectric point of 4.9 and a relative molecular mass of 159,000 as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and was inhibited (47%) by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (1 m M). The α-amylase of Bacillus sp. IMD 370 was quite distinct by virtue of its mechanism of action and its inability to fit into the conventional classification scheme of amylolytic enzymes. It had a mode of action intermediate between an endo-acting enzyme, α-amylase, and a typical exo-acting enzyme, amyloglucosidase. The sugars produced on hydrolysis of starch had the α-configuration, but no oligosaccharide higher than maltotetraose was obtained at any stage during starch hydrolysis.

Fractional differentiation of devil's staircases

Modern nonlinear dynamics abounds in mathematical objects with bizarre shapes and properties. It is argued that fractional calculus provides powerful tools for the description of such “monstrosities”. The application of generalized differintegration to devil's staircases is discussed in detail. On the basis of these results, an extension of the conventional classification scheme for phase transitions, introducing fractional order, is proposed.

Fine structure of the Bethe ansatz for the spin-1/2 Heisenberg XXX model

The authors analyse the Bethe ansatz equations for the two-particle sector of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg XXX model on a one-dimensional lattice of length N. They show that, beginning at a critical lattice length of N=21.86, new pairs of real solutions develop, whereas complex solutions start to disappear. The integers (that appear in the logarithmic form of the Bethe equations) of the new solutions do not fit into the conventional classification scheme. The total number of solutions in the two-particle sector remains unchanged and is in agreement with the claim that the SU(2) extended Bethe ansatz gives a complete set of 2N eigenstates.

Molecular genetics, reductionism, and disease concepts in psychiatry.

The study of mental illness by the methods of molecular genetics is still in its infancy, but the use of genetic markers in psychiatry may potentially lead to a Virchowian revolution in the conception of mental illness. Genetic markers may define novel clusters of patients having diverse clinical presentations but sharing a common genetic and mechanistic basis. Such clusters may differ radically from the conventional classification schemes of psychiatric illness. However, the reduction of even relatively simple Mendelian phenomena to molecular genetics has been shown to be a surprisingly complex and problematic enterprise. Mental illnesses exist at many levels of including social, environmental, and developmental interactions. Reductionistic shifts in the classification of such a disease entity will have to address the interlevel dynamics that take place within the structure of theories of mental illness. The question of how molecular analysis of psychiatric disease will impact on the structure of existing theories and classification systems is the central topic of this paper.

Classification and identification of bacteria by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

This study describes a computer-based technique for classifying and identifying bacterial samples using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) patterns. Classification schemes were tested for selected series of bacterial strains and species from a variety of different genera. Dissimilarities between bacterial IR spectra were calculated using modified correlation coefficients. Dissimilarity matrices were used for cluster analysis, which yielded dendrograms broadly equated with conventional taxonomic classification schemes. Analyses were performed with selected strains of the taxa Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Clostridium, Legionella and Escherichia coli in particular, and with a database containing 139 bacterial reference spectra. The latter covered a wide range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Unknown specimens could be identified when included in an established cluster analysis. Thirty-six clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and 24 of Streptococcus faecalis were tested and all were assigned to the correct species cluster. It is concluded that: (1) FT-IR patterns can be used to type bacteria; (2) FT-IR provides data which can be treated such that classifications are similar and/or complementary to conventional classification schemes; and (3) FT-IR can be used as an easy and safe method for the rapid identification of clinical isolates.

Petrography and Reservoir Physics I: Objective Classification of Reservoir Porosity (1)

Porosity observed in thin section can be objectively classified using a combination of digital acquisition procedures and pattern recognition algorithms. Pore types are derived from the frequency distributions of sizes and shapes of patches of porosity exposed in thin section. Each pore type is represented by a characteristic distribution of sizes and shapes found in thin section. Most sandstone reservoirs contain fewer than six pore types. Much of the intersample variability in reservoir physics is associated with changes in pore type abundance. The advantages of this approach to porosity classification are (1) the criteria for classification are objectively defined, (2) classification procedure is rapid, accurate, and precise, (3) pore types are understood easily in ter s of conventional genetic classification schemes, and (4) pore type data are related strongly to petrophysical properties.

Elevations of local cerebral glucose utilization by the β-carboline ZK 93 426

The effects of the benzodiazepine receptor antagonist XR 93 426, a β-carboline, on local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) was examined by using quantitative in-vivo autoradiography with [ 3H]2-deoxyglucose. ZK 93 426 was found to increase local cerebral glucose utilization primarily in prefrontal, cingulate, olfactory and visual cortical regions, as well as the claustrum, nucleus accumbens, anteroventral thalamus, substantia nigra, and dorsal raphe nucleus. This pattern of changes of LCGU produced by ZK 93 426 seems to represent neither a mirror image of the metabolic effects of benzodiazepine receptor agonists nor the pattern of effects on LCGU induced by the partial inverse agonist β-carboline FG 7142. The unique pattern of regional changes of glucose utilization induced by ZK 93 426 are discussed with respect to recent findings on its promnestic and antiamnestic properties in animals and humans. It is concluded that ZK 93 426 does not seem to fit into the conventional classification scheme of benzidiazepine receptor ligands; thus, the term ‘selective inverse agonist’ is proposed.

Performance analysis of MUSIC-type high resolution estimators for direction finding in correlated and coherent scenes

An asymptotic analysis is presented of a class of high-resolution estimators for resolving correlated and coherent plane waves in noise. These estimators are in turn constructed from certain eigenvectors associated with spatially smoothed (or unsmoothed) covariance matrices generated from a uniform array. The analysis is first carried out for the smoothed case, and from this the conventional (i.e., unsmoothed) multiple signal classification (MUSIC) scheme follows as a special case. Independent of the total number of sources present in the scene, the variance of the conventional MUSIC estimator along the true arrival angles is shown to be zero within a first-order approximation. The bias expressions in the smoothed case are used to obtain a resolution threshold for two coherent, equipowered plane waves in white noise, and the result is compared to the one derived by Kaveh et al. (1986) for two uncorrelated, equipowered plane waves.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Medieval Timber and Earthwork Fortifications in Western Ireland

IT IS BECOMING increasingly apparent that conventional classification schemes for medieval timber and earthwork fortifications in Ireland are compromised by two factors. First they depend upon ethn...

Binaural processing of sound pressure level in the inferior colliculus.

The central auditory system could encode information about the location of a high-frequency sound source by comparing the sound pressure levels at the ears. Two potential computations are the interaural intensity difference (IID) and the average binaural intensity (ABI). In this study of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) of the anesthetized gerbil, we demonstrate that responses of 85% of the 97 single units in our sample were jointly influenced by IID and ABI. For a given ABI, discharge rate of most units is a sigmoidal function of IID, and peak rates occur at IIDs favoring the contralateral ear. Most commonly, successive increments of ABI cause successive shifts of the IID functions toward IIDs favoring the ipsilateral ear. Neurons displaying this behavior include many that would conventionally be classified EI (receiving predominantly excitatory input arising from one ear and inhibitory input from the other), many that would be classified EE (receiving predominantly excitatory input arising from each ear), and all that are responsive only to contralateral stimulation. The IID sensitivity of a very few EI neurons is unaffected by ABI, except near threshold. Such units could provide directional information that is independent of source intensity. A few EE neurons are very sensitive to ABI, but are minimally sensitive to IID. Nevertheless, our data indicate that responses of most EE units in ICC are strongly dominated by excitation of contralateral origin. For some units, discharge rate is nonmonotonically related to IID and is maximal when the stimuli at the two ears are of comparable sound pressure. This preference for zero IID is common for all binaural levels. Many EI neurons respond nonmonotonically to ABI. Discharge rates are greater for IIDs representative of contralateral space and are maximal at a single best ABI. For a subset of these neurons, the influence arising from the ipsilateral ear is comprised of a mixture of excitation and inhibition. As a consequence, discharge rates are nonmonotonically related not only to ABI but also to IID. This dual nonmonotonicity creates a clear focus of peak response at a particular ABI/IID combination. Because of their mixed monaural influences, such units would be ascribed to different classes of the conventional (EE/EI) binaural classification scheme depending on the binaural level presented. Several response classes were identified in this study, and each might contribute differently to the encoding of spatial information.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Guidelines to classification and nomenclature of Arabian felsic plutonic rocks

Well-defined procedures for classifying the felsic plutonic rocks of the Arabian Shield on the basis of petrographic, chemical and lithostratigraphic criteria and mineral-resource potential have been adopted and developed in the Saudi Arabian Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources over the past decade. A number of problems with conventional classification schemes have been identified and resolved; others, notably those arising from difficulties in identifying precise mineral compositions, continue to present difficulties. The petrographic nomenclature used is essentially that recommended by the International Union of Geological Sciences. Problems that have arisen include the definition of: (1) rocks with sodic, zoned or perthitic feldspar, (2) trondhjemites, and (3) alkali granites. Chemical classification has been largely based on relative molar amounts of alumina, lime and alkalis, and the use of conventional variation diagrams, but pilot studies utilizing univariate and multivariate statistical techniques have been made. The classification used in Saudi Arabia for stratigraphic purposes is a hierarchy of formation-rank units, suites and super-suites as defined in the Saudi Arabian stratigraphic code. For genetic and petrological studies, a grouping as ‘associations’ of similar and genetically related lithologies is commonly used. In order to indicate mineral-resource potential, the felsic plutons are classed as common, precursor, specialized or mineralized, in order of increasing exploration significance.

Consideration of Taxonomic‐Nomenclatural Problems Posed by Report of Myxosporidians with a Two‐Host Life Cycle1

The recent report of two hosts in the life cycle of the myxosporidian parasite causing whirling disease in rainbow trout left unresolved several important taxonomic‐nomenclatural problems that are thus treated here. Although the spore morphology is totally different in the invertebrate host, the species involved can legally have but one name, viz., Myxobolus cerebralis Hofer, 1903 (until 1984, widely known under the name “Myxosoma cerebralis”). The “actinomyxidean” stage found in tubificid worms could have been tentatively assigned to the genus Triactinomyxon only if the latter had been considered as a collective‐group name. While intermediate ranks are also affected, even the high‐level groups Myxosporidia and Actinomyxidea, long considered taxonomically separate in conventional protozoan classification schemes, must be redefined. If future investigations confirm the existence of a two‐host life cycle for Myxobolus cerebralis and perhaps for other related myxosporidian fish parasites, then the phylogenetic distinctiveness of Myxosporidia and Actinomyxidea has been undermined and perhaps they can no longer be treated as evolutionarily divergent assemblages.