Erroneous Representation Research Articles

Surveillance of the respiratory syncytial virus outside infancy: impact of testing methods, a retrospective observational study.

The European Medicines Agency has approved several vaccines to protect the elderly against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. However, differences in performance between antigen and PCR tests, especially in adults, can make monitoring RSV difficult. This study aims to assess the impact of the chosen diagnostic methods on the surveillance of RSV. RSV and influenza test results obtained from July 2022 to June 2023 in a consolidated clinical laboratory in Brussels, Belgium, were collected. These results included antigen tests, quadruplex PCR tests and viral cultures on respiratory samples. Epidemiological trends related to the age of patients and the diagnostic methods were analysed. Among 14 761 RSV tests, the overall number of positive tests for infants until 1 year of age peaked on 5 November 2022 (67 per 7 days) whereas it peaked on 22 December 2022 for adults (33 per 7 days). Positive antigen tests peaked on 7 November 2022 (56 per 7 days) whereas positive PCRs peaked on 19 December 2022 (36 per 7 days). Nevertheless, the positivity rate of RSV PCRs had peaked 1 month previously. Infants were mainly diagnosed through antigen testing, contrary to older patients. The influenza epidemic was probably the cause of the increased use of a quadruplex PCR, leading to a delayed increase in the absolute number of PCRs positive for RSV. This study shows that the use of different diagnostic methods could lead to an erroneous representation of RSV epidemiology in adults due to the lack of sensitivity of antigen detection. RSV surveillance in the elderly should rely rather on molecular methods.

Visualised AKIS Diagnosis – an Instrumental Approach to Support AKIS Appraisal

SummaryThe AKIS (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System) concept is now widely applied in the EU partly due to latest CAP regulation. Visualisation‐based AKIS diagnosis relies on the iterative elaboration of an AKIS diagram that provides a static picture of what elements of the system are linked through what kind of relations in which socio‐economic contexts and environments. In this article we discuss the implications of using the visualised AKIS diagnosis method based on our empirical assessment of AKIS in 28 European countries. The method involved drafting AKIS diagrams based on targeted desk research, conducting dialogues with experts affiliated with or overseeing prominent knowledge organisations to adjust and refine the diagrams and to analyse actor diversity and linkages. The final diagrams and the background reports on AKIS appraisal were used to deepen the AKIS understanding among various stakeholders in the agriculture sector, as well as an input for the CAP strategic plan preparation in some countries. We conclude that the visualised AKIS diagnosis has a great potential to make complex knowledge infrastructures and exchange processes tangible. However, it also comes with risks, for example, that the snapshot in time may become misleading, through being an outdated or erroneous representation.

Supervised learning-assisted modeling of flow-based domains in European resource adequacy assessments

• This paper aims to enhance the modeling of cross-border energy exchanges in adequacy study. • Novel supervised learning-based models in single- and two-step set-ups are proposed. • Accuracy, scalability, and computational complexity of adequacy study are improved. • It can have high implication for policy makers and be of a great interest of academics. To represent the cross-border exchange capacities defined by the flow-based approach in the European resource adequacy assessments, transmission system operators currently employ a data-driven methodology that consists of sequential clustering and correlation steps. This methodology entails assumptions and simplifications within both clustering and correlation analyses that may lead to an erroneous representation of import–export capacities in the subsequent adequacy assessments. While the first stage of this methodology can be improved by leveraging a clustering technique tailored to adequacy assessments, the correlation step presents a poor performance in terms of accuracy and scalability. To address the latter challenges, this paper proposes a supervised learning-based model that can enhance the mapping between several relevant explanatory variables and the pre-clustered flow-based domains, leading to a more accurate representation of the flow-based domains in adequacy assessments. Furthermore, the current paper leverages supervised learning to develop a single-step approach that directly maps the selected explanatory variables to the flow-based domains using the K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm, eliminating the clustering step. This circumvents inaccuracies introduced by the significant intra-cluster discrepancies due to numerous shapes and forms of the flow-based domains and enables an enhanced modeling of the flow-based domains in adequacy assessments. In an extensive case study, we demonstrate that the proposed single-step model can significantly improve the accuracy of adequacy assessments, compared to the best-in-class result obtained by the two-step set-up. Moreover, the proposed single-step model involves no hyper-parameters, eliminates the computational complexity of the two-step set-up, and efficiently upscales to integrate the new zones joining to the flow-based market coupling.

Is Kant's Revolution in Philosophy a Copernican Turn?

There is a widespread misunderstanding in Kant scholarship, partly due to Kant himself, as to his comparison of transcendental philosophy with Copernican revolution in its standard sense as a shift of scientific paradigms. However, there is a reason to think, that this analogy is not correct: what corresponds to it in his system of transcendental philosophy, makes a necessary and basic, but nevertheless a detail of all system, and that which can truly characterize a detail, will be incorrect in relation to the whole. The fundamental in modern Kant scholarship Allison's book«Kant’s TranscendentalIdealism» is chosen as an example of such incorrect characteristic. In my paper I prove, that acceptance of analogy of transcendental philosophy with Copernican revolution leads us to erroneous representation of the former as a kind of anthropocentrism in its phenomenalistic or subjective-idealistic form. Instead of understanding Kant’s revolution as a replacement of one kind of monismby another to what its comparison with Copernican revolution forces, I propose to understand it as a replacement of different kinds of monism, coexisted in Kant’s days in the form of «war of schools», by dualism.

“Bipolar Zelda”: A Cultural Phenomenon

Abstract Following the release of Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2013, interest in Zelda Fitzgerald reached its most recent peak. Out of this interest a curious cultural phenomenon that one might call “bipolar Zelda” emerged, challenging Zelda Fitzgerald’s historical schizophrenia diagnosis. This article traces the origins of “bipolar Zelda” and evaluates the strategies, motivations, and outcomes behind the phenomenon and its place within a much longer-running project to rescue Zelda from her diagnosis. Illuminating the “bipolar Zelda” phenomenon from a medical perspective demonstrates the problems and constraints of “retro-diagnosis” as well as the particularly erroneous representation of schizophrenia in film and literature that stands behind a problematic desire to disassociate Zelda with that condition. It is, therefore, time that scholars reconsider the wisdom of continuing to challenge Zelda’s historical diagnosis as it constitutes harm not only to her legacy but also to mentally ill individuals in the present.

Validación de los pronósticos de precipitación simulados con el modelo BRAMS para la región La Libertad-Perú

The objective of this work is to validate the precipitation forecasts simulated with the Brazilian Regional Atmospheric Modelling Systems (BRAMS) numerical model in its version 5.3, for the La Libertad Region in Peru; this region of Peru has 80% of its land located in the northern highlands of Peru. In mountainous areas, precipitation is strongly influenced by the height of the terrain, a poor representation of the topographic elevations and depressions of the terrain can lead to an erroneous representation of the resolvable phenomena explicit by the model. Taking into account this characteristic of the study area, in the first instance the BRAMS model was configured to adequately represent the rugged orography of the local área at a horizontal resolution of 10 km. Then, the model was run to simulate precipitation forecasts at time horizons of 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, for the months of December 2019, January and February 2020. The validation of the forecasts was performed against observed data obtained from the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (SENAMHI) of Peru, using quality indices for continuous and binary variables. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the BRAMS model performed well in forecasting the occurrence of precipitation for all time horizons. However, the model had difficulties in forecasting the occurrence of precipitation for higher thresholds, and predicted more false alarms for these thresholds. Finally, the model applied to the La Libertad Region in Peru, with a fairly rugged topography, had similar results to those obtained by other regional models applied in areas where there is little influence of terrain height.

A rotation based regularization method for semi-supervised learning.

In manifold learning, the intrinsic geometry of the manifold is explored and preserved by identifying the optimal local neighborhood around each observation. It is well known that when a Riemannian manifold is unfolded correctly, the observations lying spatially near to the manifold, should remain near on the lower dimension as well. Due to the nonlinear properties of manifold around each observation, finding such optimal neighborhood on the manifold is a challenge. Thus, a sub-optimal neighborhood may lead to erroneous representation and incorrect inferences. In this paper, we propose a rotation-based affinity metric for accurate graph Laplacian approximation. It exploits the property of aligned tangent spaces of observations in an optimal neighborhood to approximate correct affinity between them. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real world datasets have been performed. It is observed that proposed method outperforms existing nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques in low-dimensional representation for synthetic datasets. The results on real world datasets like COVID-19 prove that our approach increases the accuracy of classification by enhancing Laplacian regularization.

Total Synthesis and Structural Revision of Greensporone F and Dechlorogreensporone F.

The first asymmetric total syntheses of the real isolation product (2S,5R,8R)-greensporone F and (2S,5R,8R)-dechlorogreensporone F, 14-membered resorcylic acid lactones with a cis-2,5-disubstituted tetrahydrofuran ring system, was accomplished. The synthesis features a late-stage Lewis acid-catalyzed stereoselective intramolecular oxa-Michael reaction, E-selective ring-closing metathesis, De Brabander's esterification, and Jacobsen's hydrolytic kinetic resolution as the key steps. Synthesis of both real isolation and erroneously proposed structure necessitated the revision of the absolute configuration of greensporone F and dechlorogreensporone F. The erroneous representation of (2S,5S,8S)-configuration in greensporone F and dechlorogreensporone F was assigned to be (2S,5R,8R) by comparison with the NMR data and specific rotation of the synthetic compounds with that of the reported data.

On the impact of atmospheric vs oceanic resolutions on the representation of the sea surface temperature in the South Eastern Tropical Atlantic

Despite the efforts of the modelling community to improve the representation of the sea surface temperature (SST) over the South Eastern Tropical Atlantic, warm biases still persist. In this work we use four different configurations of the fully-coupled AWI Climate Model (AWI-CM) which allow us to gain physics-based insight into the role of the oceanic and atmospheric resolutions of the model in the regional distribution of the SST. Our results show that a sole refinement of the oceanic resolution reduces warm biases further than a single increase of the atmospheric component. An increased oceanic resolution is required (i) to simulate properly the Agulhas Current and its associated rings; (ii) to reinforce the northward-flowing Benguela Current and (iii) to intensify coastal upwelling. The best results are obtained when both resolutions are refined. However, even in that case, warm biases persist, reflecting that some processes and feedbacks are still not optimally resolved. Our results indicate that overheating is not due to insufficient upwelling, but rather due to upwelling of waters which are warmer than observations as a result of an erroneous representation of the vertical distribution of temperature. Errors in the representation of the vertical temperature profile are the consequence of a warm bias in the simulated climate state.

Mesoscale Air–Sea Interaction and Its Role in Eddy Energy Dissipation in the Kuroshio Extension

ABSTRACT Using the high-resolution Community Earth System Model (CESM) output, this study investigates air–sea interaction and its role in eddy energy dissipation in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region. Based on an eddy energetics analysis, it is found that the baroclinic pathway associated with temperature variability is the main eddy energy source in this region. Both the air–sea heat flux and wind stress act as eddy killers that remove energy from oceanic eddies. Heat exchange between atmosphere and oceanic eddies dominates the dissipation of eddy temperature variance within the surface layer and accounts for 36% of the total dissipation in the upper 350-m layer. Compared to the heat exchange, the role of wind power in damping the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) is relatively small. Only 18% of EKE dissipation in the upper 350 m is attributed to eddy wind power. Misrepresentation of the damping role of mesoscale ocean–atmosphere interaction can result in an incorrect vertical structure of eddy energy dissipation, leading to an erroneous representation of vertical mixing in the interior ocean.

A decomposed subspace reduction for fracture mechanics based on the meshfree integrated singular basis function method

In this work, we propose a new decomposed subspace reduction (DSR) method for reduced-order modeling of fracture mechanics based on the integrated singular basis function method (ISBFM) with reproducing kernel approximation enriched by crack-tip basis functions. It is shown that the standard MOR approach based on modal analysis (ISBFM-MA) with a direct employment of the crack-tip enrichment functions yields an inappropriate scaling effect to the stiffness matrix, and results in the loss of essential crack features and the erroneous representation of inhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions in the reduced subspace. On the other hand, the solution of ISBFM-DSR is not affected by the arbitrary scaling of the enrichment functions, and it properly captures the singularity and discontinuity properties of fracture problems in its low-dimensional reduced-order approximation. It is also shown that the inhomogeneous boundary conditions can be accurately represented in the ISBFM-DSR solution. Validations are given in the numerical examples.

Consistency Requirements for Integral Representations of Green’s Functions—Part II: An Erroneous Representation

The two requirements set forth in Part I of this paper are used to demonstrate the inadequacy of a recently proposed Green’s function for a material half-space. It is shown that the construction carried out with respect to the wavenumber normal to the interface results not only in an incomplete representation but also in nonphysical fields in the conducting medium. By comparing with the Sommerfeld integral representation, which was shown to be complete and exact in Part I, it is demonstrated that the so-constructed Green’s function with respect to the vertical wavenumber: 1) has an error in the main contribution (arising from the primary branch cut) and 2) lacks the key ingredients of a surface wave and an additional branch cut contribution in the representation.

Sense of verticality in girls with right thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS): Evaluation of bottom up and top down mechanisms

Objective AIS is the most frequent spinal deformity in adolescence, but its etiology remains unknown. We hypothesized that AIS is secondary to perturbation of sense of verticality. Orthostatic postural control is organized, in part, from the vertical gravity, by two mechanisms: bottom up (central integrating of multisensorial inputs) and top down (cognitive process, as notion of self-image representation). We studied sense of verticality in SIA by subjective visual vertical (SVV), postural vertical (VP) and self-image representation, with reference to the vertical gravity. Material/patients and methods We conducted two prospective multicentre case–control studies. Study 1 aimed at the evaluation of static and dynamic SVV and VP, in two groups. Thirty girls (14.2 ± 1.7 years) with right thoracic AIS (3.97 ± 12.9°), matched to 30 controls (13.9 ± 1.8 years). Study 2 aimed at the evaluation of perception of form trunk with pictorial scale in three groups. Thirty-one girls (13.5 ± 1.3 years) with minor right thoracic AIS, 32 girls (14 ± 0.9 years) with major right thoracic AIS, 30 control girls (13.6 ± 1.3 years). A weighted score is established: higher score reveal worse perception of trunk form. Results Study 1 found no significant difference in SVV and VP was shifted to the right in right thoracic AIS group: 2.1 ± 2.2° vs. score control group = 0.08° ± 1.4° (P Discussion, conclusion Our studies show disturbance of sense of verticality in AIS, with somaesthesic graviception disorder. The loss of concordance between central internal representation of verticality and earth-vertical could lead to a perturbation of longitudinal body axis, by impaired postural adjustment of the trunk. AIS could be the result of a reorientation of longitudinal body axis, consequently of spinal axis, in accordance with an erroneous representation of verticality. This model modifies the management of scoliosis AIS.

What is it that lingers? Garden-path (mis)interpretations in younger and older adults.

Previous research has shown that comprehenders do not always conduct a full (re)analysis of temporarily ambiguous "garden-path" sentences. The present study used a sentence-picture matching task to investigate what kind of representations are formed when full reanalysis is not performed: Do comprehenders "blend" two incompatible representations as a result of shallow syntactic processing or do they erroneously maintain the initial incorrect parsing without incorporating new information, and does this vary with age? Twenty-five younger and 15 older adults performed a multiple-choice sentence-picture matching task with stimuli including early-closure garden-path sentences. The results suggest that the type of erroneous representation is affected by linguistic variables, such as sentence structure, verb type, and semantic plausibility, as well as by age. Older adults' response patterns indicate an increased reliance on inferencing based on lexical and semantic cues, with a lower bar for accepting an initial parse and with a weaker drive to reanalyse a syntactic representation. Among younger adults, there was a tendency to blend two representations into a single interpretation, even if this was not licensed by the syntax.

Politics of Science: Unwarranted Encounters.

This communication highlights a very pertinent and recent case of an erroneous representation of the Indian borders in an article 'India by the numbers' by Richard Van Noorden in Nature ( http://www.nature.com/news/india-by-the-numbers-1.17519 ) where a considerable part of the Jammu and Kashmir State of India is missing in the map incorporated in the article. The article received a series of comments showing disappointment on the issue and a need for the correction to the depicted Indian borders. The editor instead of making corrections to the map has issued a statement that 'the map shows land areas currently administered by the Indian Government', that in no way can be considered as an acceptable argument. We wish the focus of this well written article had remained on science rather than introducing unnecessary controversies.

Children’s use of number line estimation strategies

This study tested whether second graders use benchmark-based strategies when solving a number line estimation (NLE) task. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions based on the availability of benchmarks provided on the number line. In the bounded condition, number lines were only bounded at both sides by 0 and 200, while the midpoint condition included an additional benchmark at the midpoint and children in the quartile condition were provided with a benchmark at every quartile. First, the inclusion of a midpoint resulted in more accurate estimates around the middle of the number line in the midpoint condition compared to the bounded and, surprisingly, also the quartile condition. Furthermore, the two additional benchmarks in the quartile condition did not yield better estimations around the first and third quartile, because children frequently relied on an erroneous representation of these benchmarks, leading to systematic estimation errors. Second, verbal strategy reports revealed that children in the midpoint condition relied more frequently on the benchmark at the midpoint of the number line compared to the bounded condition, confirming the accuracy data. Finally, the frequency of use of benchmark-based strategies correlated positively with mathematics achievement and tended to correlate positively also with estimation accuracy. In sum, this study is one of the first to provide systematic evidence for children’s use of benchmark-based estimation strategies in NLE with natural numbers and its relationship with children’s NLE performance.

Clinical interest of postural and vestibulo-ocular reflex changes induced by cervical muscles and skull vibration in compensated unilateral vestibular lesion patients

Skull vibration induces nystagmus in unilateral vestibular lesion (UVL) patients. Vibration of skull, posterior cervical muscles or inferior limb muscles alters posture in recent UVL patients. This study aimed to investigate the postural effect of vibration in chronic compensated UVL patients. Vibration was applied successively to vertex, each mastoid, each side of posterior cervical muscles and of triceps surae in 12 UVL patients and 9 healthy subjects. Eye movements were recorded with videonystagmography. Postural control was evaluated in eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) conditions. Sway area, sway path, anteroposterior and medio-lateral sways were recorded.A vibration induced nystagmus (VIN) beating toward the healthy side was obtained for each UVL patient during mastoid vibration. In EO, only sway path was higher in UVL group during vibration of mastoids and posterior cervical muscles.The EO postural impairments of UVL patients could be related to the eye movements or VIN, leading to visual perturbations, or to a proprioceptive error signal, providing an erroneous representation of head position. The vibration-induced sway was too small to be clinically useful. Vestibulo-ocular reflex observed with videonystagmography during mastoid vibration seems more relevant to reveal chronic UVL than vestibulo-spinal reflex observed with posturography.

Identification of the principal patterns of summer moisture transport in South America and their representation by WCRP/CMIP3 global climate models

The goal of this study is to assess the ability of a set of global climate models (GCMs) to represent the main regional spatial patterns of austral summer moisture transport in South America in order to evaluate if one of the possible causes of GCMs misestimating summer precipitation in this region could be associated with an erroneous representation of these patterns. For this purpose, NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and 20 GCMs from the WCRP/CMIP3 multi-model dataset for the period 1960–1999 were considered. Extreme cases of moisture transport patterns were selected to assess their association with rainfall anomalies. Results obtained indicate that only some aspects of water vapor transport and convergence in South America as well as the associated precipitation anomalies can be reproduced adequately by GCMs. Finally, a case study is presented showing that one of the moisture transport patterns identified was observed during December 2008–February 2009.

Some Reasons to Revise the International Standard ISO 226:2003: Acoustics—Normal Equal-Loudness-Level Contours

The recent Standard ISO 226 concerning equal-loudness-level contours has been critically analysed. As a result, it is shown that the fitting and smoothing processes applied in the standard lead to parameter values defining equal-loudness-level contours that are not consistent with the chosen loudness function type. Serious mathematical and acoustical discrepancies have also been found that result in constant terms having an unnecessarily high numerical accuracy and a flawed phon definition, which leads to an erroneous loudness level representation. Therefore an extensive treatment of the logarithmic calculations (phon) of a loudness function is performed in this study. Finally, the author concludes that it would be desirable for the discrepancies in the standard (shown in the study) to be taken into account and corrected before publishing a new version of the standard.

A new version of the CNRM Chemistry-Climate Model, CNRM-CCM: description and improvements from the CCMVal-2 simulations

Abstract. This paper presents a new version of the Météo-France CNRM Chemistry-Climate Model, so-called CNRM-CCM. It includes some fundamental changes from the previous version (CNRM-ACM) which was extensively evaluated in the context of the CCMVal-2 validation activity. The most notable changes concern the radiative code of the GCM, and the inclusion of the detailed stratospheric chemistry of our Chemistry-Transport model MOCAGE on-line within the GCM. A 47-yr transient simulation (1960–2006) is the basis of our analysis. CNRM-CCM generates satisfactory dynamical and chemical fields in the stratosphere. Several shortcomings of CNRM-ACM simulations for CCMVal-2 that resulted from an erroneous representation of the impact of volcanic aerosols as well as from transport deficiencies have been eliminated. Remaining problems concern the upper stratosphere (5 to 1 hPa) where temperatures are too high, and where there are biases in the NO2, N2O5 and O3 mixing ratios. In contrast, temperatures at the tropical tropopause are too cold. These issues are addressed through the implementation of a more accurate radiation scheme at short wavelengths. Despite these problems we show that this new CNRM CCM is a useful tool to study chemistry-climate applications.