Identity Matching Research Articles

The culture of gifting with the emergence of online tourism experiential gift-giving

PurposeThis study aims to explore the evolution of the culture agapic (personal) gift-giving with the advent of new online gifting platforms that provide the opportunity to gift tourism experiences. This study investigates this well-established cultural behavior in view of this new form of social exchange.Design/methodology/approachFocus group interviews with two key target markets – mothers and couples/singles – were conducted (N = 39). Interview questions focused on understanding gifting using online platforms, sharing the experience and the role of various parties in the exchange.FindingsThis study reveals that experiential tourism gifts differ from physical gifts because they offer novelty and symbolic value, heighten positive emotions and have the potential to create lifelong memories for recipients. However, giving an experiential gift can also be a risky option because of the uncertainty of getting the gift–recipient identity match correct, particularly for adventure tourism gifts. The identity of the gift-giver is also considered in gift selection as the experience selected is a reflection of self.Practical implicationsIt is recommended that online experiential gifting platforms pay attention to both the identity of the gift-giver and gift-recipient. Sharing the experience through social media posts can reinforce both parties’ social identity, create a positive social exchange and may motivate repeat purchase.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to uncover the motivational factors of online tourism experiential gifting as part of the culture of gift-giving and the parties in this exchange. The findings advance theoretical understanding of this new form of social exchange.

Effects of Limited Hold on Equivalence Class Formation

In an attempt to limit the opportunity to engage in mediating behavior, two groups of adult participants received preliminary training in identity matching with limited hold levels (LH) for responding of 0.7 s for the sample and 1.2 s for the comparisons. The two groups were subsequently trained to form three 5-member classes, using the same LH levels, where the A, B, D, and E stimuli were abstract stimuli, and the C stimuli were meaningful pictures. In two tests for emergent relations, the LH for Group Short was unchanged, whereas 5 s were added to the LH for the comparisons for Group Long. None of the participants in Group Short responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence in either of the two tests. In Group Long, one participant responded in accordance with stimulus equivalence in the first test, and an additional eight participants formed equivalence classes in the second test.

Developmental prosopagnosics and super recognizers rely on the same facial features used by individuals with normal face recognition abilities for face identification

Face recognition depends on the ability of the face processing system to extract facial features that define the identity of a face. In a recent study we discovered that altering a subset of facial features changed the identity of the face, indicating that they are critical for face identification. Changing another set of features did not change the identity of a face, indicating that they are not critical for face identification. In the current study, we assessed whether developmental prosopagnosics (DPs) and super recognizers (SRs) also rely more heavily on these critical features than non-critical features for face identification. To that end, we presented to DPs and SRs faces in which either the critical or the non-critical features were manipulated. In Study 1, we presented SRs with a famous face recognition task. We found that overall SRs recognized famous faces that differ in either critical or non-critical features better than controls. Similar to controls, changes in critical features had a larger effect on SRs’ face recognition than changes in non-critical features. In Study 2, we presented an identity matching task to DPs and SRs. Similar to controls, DPs and SRs perceived faces that differed in critical features as more different than faces that differed in non-critical features. Taken together, our results indicate that SRs and DPs use the same critical features for face identification as normal individuals. These findings emphasize the fundamental role of this subset of features for face identification.

Recognition of pedestrian trajectories and attributes with computer vision and deep learning techniques

Analyzing the walking behavior of the public is vital for revealing the need for infrastructure design in a local neighborhood, supporting human-centric urban area development. Traditional walking behavior analysis practices relying on manual on-street surveys to collect pedestrian flow data are labor-intensive and tedious. On the contrary, automated video analytics using surveillance cameras based on computer vision and deep learning techniques appears more effective in generating pedestrian flow statistics. Nevertheless, most existing methods of pedestrian tracking and attribute recognition suffer from several challenging conditions, such as inter-person occlusion and appearance variations, which leads to ambiguous identities and hence inaccurate pedestrian flow statistics.Therefore, this paper proposes a more robust methodology of pedestrian tracking and attribute recognition, facilitating the analysis of pedestrian walking behavior. Specific limitations of a current state-of-the-art method are inferred, based on which several improvement strategies are proposed: 1) incorporating high-level pedestrian attributes to enhance pedestrian tracking, 2) a similarity measure integrating multiple cues for identity matching, and 3) a probation mechanism for more robust identity matching. From our evaluation using two public benchmark datasets, the developed strategies notably enhance the robustness of pedestrian tracking against the challenging conditions mentioned above. Subsequently, the outputs of trajectories and attributes are aggregated into fine-grained pedestrian flow statistics among different pedestrian groups. Overall, our developed framework can support a more comprehensive and reliable decision-making for human-centric planning and design in different urban areas. The framework is also applicable to exploiting pedestrian movement patterns in different scenes for analyses such as urban walkability evaluation. Moreover, the developed mechanisms are generalizable to future researches as a baseline, which provides generic insights of how to fundamentally enhance pedestrian tracking.

Unimodal and cross-modal identity judgements using an audio-visual sorting task: Evidence for independent processing of faces and voices

Unimodal and cross-modal information provided by faces and voices contribute to identity percepts. To examine how these sources of information interact, we devised a novel audio-visual sorting task in which participants were required to group video-only and audio-only clips into two identities. In a series of three experiments, we show that unimodal face and voice sorting were more accurate than cross-modal sorting: While face sorting was consistently most accurate followed by voice sorting, cross-modal sorting was at chancel level or below. In Experiment 1, we compared performance in our novel audio-visual sorting task to a traditional identity matching task, showing that unimodal and cross-modal identity perception were overall moderately more accurate than the traditional identity matching task. In Experiment 2, separating unimodal from cross-modal sorting led to small improvements in accuracy for unimodal sorting, but no change in cross-modal sorting performance. In Experiment 3, we explored the effect of minimal audio-visual training: Participants were shown a clip of the two identities in conversation prior to completing the sorting task. This led to small, nonsignificant improvements in accuracy for unimodal and cross-modal sorting. Our results indicate that unfamiliar face and voice perception operate relatively independently with no evidence of mutual benefit, suggesting that extracting reliable cross-modal identity information is challenging.

Cone beam CT based validation of neural network generated synthetic CTs for radiotherapy in the head region.

In the past years, many different neural network-based conversion techniques for synthesizing computed tomographys (sCTs) from MR images have been published. While the model's performance can be checked during the training against the test set, test datasets can never represent the whole population. Conversion errors can still occur for special cases, for example, for unusual anatomical situations. Therefore, the performance of sCT conversion needs to be verified on a patient specific level, especially in the absence of a planning CT (pCT). In this study, the capability of cone-beam CTs (CBCTs) for the validation of sCTs generated by a neural network was investigated. 41 patients with tumors in the head region were selected. 20 of them were used for model training and 10 for validation. Different implementations of CycleGAN (with/without identity and feature loss) were used to generate sCTs. The pixel (MAE, RMSE, PSNR) and geometric error (DICE, Sensitivity, Specificity) values were reported to identify the best model. VMAT plans were created for the remaining 11 patients on the pCTs. These plans were re-calculated on sCTs and CBCTs. An automatic density overriding method ( ) and a population-based dose calculation method ( ) were employed for CBCT-based dose calculation. The dose distributions were analysed using 3D global gamma analysis, applying a threshold of 10% with respect to the prescribed dose. Differences in DVH metrics for the PTV and the organs-at-risk were compared among the dose distributions based on pCTs, sCTs, and CBCTs. The best model was the CycleGAN without identity and feature matching loss. Including the identity loss led to a metric decrease of 10% for DICE and a metric increase of 20-60HU for MAE. Using the 2%/2mm gamma criterion and pCT as reference, the mean gamma pass rates were 99.0 0.4% for sCTs. Mean gamma pass rate values comparing pCT and CBCT were 99.0 0.8% and 99.1 0.8% for the and , respectively. The mean gamma pass rates comparing sCT and CBCT resulted in 98.4 1.6% and 99.2 0.6% for and , respectively. The differences between the gamma-pass-rates of the sCT and two CBCT-based methods were not significant. The majority of deviations of the investigated DVH metrices between sCTs and CBCTs were within 2%. The dosimetric results demonstrate good agreement between sCT, CBCT, and pCT based calculations. A properly applied CBCT conversion method can serve as a tool for quality assurance procedures in an MR only radiotherapy workflow for head patients. Dosimetric deviations of DVH metrics between sCT and CBCTs of larger than 2% should be followed up. A systematic shift of approximately 1% should be taken into account when using the approach in an MR only workflow.

Distinct HLA-DPB1 Matching of Unrelated Donors for Malignant and Non-Malignant Indications Is Critical in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has become a standard procedure to reconstitute a malignant or defective hematopoietic system for a series of indications, especially when other therapy options are not feasible. Indications are typically malignant transformation within the hemopoietic system, as leukemia or lymphoma, but can, especially by pediatric patients, also comprise non-malignant indications like severe immune defects, hemoglobinopathies, metabolic disorders, or neurometabolic diseases. So far, most studies comprise only adult patients or cohorts where children are included, in a malignant indication for HSCT.The optimal and first choice is a HLA-identical (matched) sibling donor (MSD), however, only 25-30% of patients will have such a donor. The current “gold standard” for matching unrelated donors (MURD) is 10/10 HLA alleles match, which comprises a match on three loci in HLA class I (A,B,C; exons 2-3) and two loci in class II loci (DRB1, DQB1; exon 2). As a consequence of the engraftment of a new donor-based immune system graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) might occur and the overall survival becomes worse as the number of mismatched alleles increased. Very recently, matching of HLA-DPB1 is increasingly considered of importance. HLA-DPB1 is a hypomorphic gene locus and matching can be simiplified by the T-cell epitope (TCE)-algorithm, where the HLA-DPB1 alleles are divided into three distinct immunogenic groups according to their direct cytotoxicity toward T-cells. Current guidelines in Germany conclude that donors with identical or permissive matching should be preferably selected as donors for HSCT. So far, the role of HLA-DPB1 matching in children with malignant and non-malignant indications has not been analyzed.In this study we performed a retrospective study of 251 patients (median age 8.8 years) who received HSCT between 2003 and 2013 at the Charite children's hospital (main cohort). 86 patients have received a MURD and 65 patients a matched related donor (MRD). The 5 year overall survival (OS) was 0.86 in MRD compared to 0.72 in MURD (p=0.06569). We found an OS of 0.74 when a permissive donor was chosen compared to 0.645 for non-permissive donors. The MRD cohort was further divided according to the type of indication for HSCT. Our data clearly demonstrate that in children undergoing HSCT due to a non-malignant indication, a permissive donor has a significantly better OS (0.84) compared to non-permissive donors (0.50, p=0.02882). In contrast, for patients with a malignant indication for HSCT a non-permissive donor was a better choice (0.76) compared to permissive donors (0.65, p=0.83657). This clear finding was unexpected and is in opposite of the current recommendations for selecting the best suited donors for these indications.In order to corroborate our findings, we adapted our study to 115 patients (meadian age 9.1 years) that received a HSCT at the Children's University Hospital Wuerzburg between 2005 and 2015 (control cohort). In our main cohort 71% of MURD had bone marrow-derived stem cells and 36% a malignant indication, in the control cohort 92% of donors donated mobilized peripheral stem cells and 71% of patients had a malignant indication. Despite these differences, the TCE-permissive donors had a statistically worse 5 year OS (0.73) compared to the non-permissive donors (1.0, p=0.02026). This finding was even strengthened when 129 MURD of both centers were combined: 75 patients had a better OS with a non-permissive donor (0.88) compared to a permissive donor (0.66; p=0.115; see Figure) only for a malignant indication. For a malignant indication the permissive donor was the better choice (0.86 to 0.71; p=0.19).While the low numbers of patients in the two analyzed centers is due to our focus on an exclusive pediatric patient cohort, the main findings were consistent between the two centers. Therefore, despite the overall low numbers, our data strongly imply that the careful selection of a mismatched, non-permissive donor for pediatric HSCT is a better choice with an underlying malignant indication. In contrast, permissive donors should be chosen for non-malignant indications. We suggest that these findings are to be confirmed in prospective studies and the deviated rules should be considered for selection of suitable donors in children. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Assessing processing speed among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A match-to-sample paradigm

ABSTRACT Speeded Matching (SpM) is a new processing speed match-to-sample test within the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery. It was designed to developmentally extend feasibility to younger children or individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). SpM reduces cognitive demands to tapping an identical match as opposed to judging and indicating whether two stimuli are identical. In this study, we piloted SpM among 148 participants with fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, or other intellectual disabilities (chronological age mean = 17.8 years, sd = 5.4; nonverbal mental age mean = 65 months, sd = 19.4). SpM had a high feasibility (96%) and internal consistency (rxx = 0.98). It converged well with other measures of processing speed, fluid cognition, and nonverbal mental age and diverged appropriately from crystallized cognitive skills. The correlation between nonverbal mental age and SpM in the IDD sample was not significantly different than the correlation between chronological age and SpM in a separate sample of 118 neurotypical children (age mean = 3.9 years sd = 0.8). This study provides initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the new SpM task, which may be appropriate as an outcome measure of processing speed for future clinical trials. It is more feasible than tasks designed for adults; it is brief, easy to administer, and engaging for young children and older individuals with lower mental ages associated with IDD.

Detection of Babesia odocoilei in Humans with Babesiosis Symptoms.

Human babesiosis is a life-threatening infectious disease that causes societal and economic impact worldwide. Several species of Babesia cause babesiosis in terrestrial vertebrates, including humans. A one-day clinic was held in Ontario, Canada, to see if a red blood cell parasite, which is present in blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, is present in humans. Based on PCR testing and DNA sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene, we unveiled B. odocoilei in two of 19 participants. DNA amplicons from these two patients are almost identical matches with the type strains of B. odocoilei in GenBank. In addition, the same two human subjects had the hallmark symptoms of human babesiosis, including night sweats, chills, fevers, and profound fatigue. Based on symptoms and molecular identification, we provide substantive evidence that B. odocoilei is pathogenic to humans. Dataset reveals that B. odocoilei serologically cross-reacts with Babesia duncani. Clinicians must realize that there are more than two Babesia spp. in North America that cause human babesiosis. This discovery signifies the first report of B. odocoilei causing human babesiosis.

Gut microbiome diversity and composition is associated with hypertension in women.

Objectives:Animal studies support a role for the gut microbiota in hypertension development, but large human studies are lacking. Here, we investigated the relationship between hypertension prevalence and gut microbial composition in two cohorts.Methods:We included 871 unrelated TwinsUK women with faecal microbiome data (16s rRNA gene sequencing). Multivariable linear models adjusted for age, age2 and BMI as well as MiRKAT models, were used to estimate the association of hypertension with alpha- and beta-diversity metrics. To identify taxa associated with hypertension, a generalized additive model for location scale and shape was computed adjusting for covariates and multiple testing. Results were replicated in 448 women from PREDICT-1.Results:We found that measures of alpha diversity are significantly lower in hypertensive cases [Beta(95% confidence interval, 95% CI) = −0.05 (−0.095 to −0.004), P = 0.03] and a significant association between beta diversity and hypertension (FDR < 0.05). We identified and replicated two genera associated with hypertension. The genus, Ruminiclostridium 6 was less abundant in hypertension cases [meta-analysis (95% CI) = −0.31 (−0.5 to −0.13), P = 1 × 10−3]. The uncultured microbe Erysipelotrichacea-UCG003 was more abundant in hypertensive cases [meta-analysis (95% CI) = 0.46 (0.3–0.62), P = 1 × 10−4]. We genomically analysed the 16 s rRNA sequence and established a 100% identity match with the 16 s rRNA sequence of the genus Faecalibacillus. We functionally annotated Ruminiclostridium, identifying 83 metabolic pathways, including pathways previously linked to blood pressure regulation.Conclusion:In this large human observation, we show that gut microbiome diversity and composition are associated with hypertension. Our results suggest that targeting the microbiome may be a novel means to prevent or treat hypertension.

First Report of Fusarium venenatum causing foot and root rot of wheat (Triticum aestivum) in Germany.

Field experiments were established in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 growing seasons at the experimental station in Neu-Eichenberg, Hessen, Germany to examine the suitability of multiple wheat cultivars for intercropping with pea and the effect of mixtures on diseases. Approximately 600 wheat tillers (BBCH 49-61, depending on the year and cultivar) were sampled in each year and assessed for severity of foot (lower stem) rot symptoms. Fungi from plants with Fusarium-like symptoms exhibiting reddish-brown discolorations on the stems were isolated following the methods described in Šišić et al. (2018). Surface disinfected (3% NaOCl for 10s) wheat stems and roots were cut into three 1 cm long pieces and placed on COONS agar (Coons, 1916). Following 7 - 12 days of incubation under constant blacklight blue fluorescent light, pure cultures were generated on potato dextrose and synthetic nutrient-poor agar (Nirenberg, 1976) using the hyphal tip transfer technique, and the resulting colonies examined microscopically. Based on morphology ca 15% of all Fusarium isolates recovered belonged to a distinct taxonomic unit and were initially identified as F. sambucinum-like (Leslie and Summerell, 2006). The identity of 16 randomly selected isolates (GenBank accession numbers MW085924 - MW085939) was confirmed by sequencing a portion of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene region (O'Donnell et al., 1998). Blast analysis in the FUSARIUM-ID (Geiser et al., 2004) and the NCBI databases revealed >99 to 100% identity match with the Fusarium venenatum accession numbers NRRL 22196, FRC R-09186 and MRC 2394. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on wheat cultivar Torborzo using six F. venenatum isolates. Inoculum was prepared using a sterile sand-millet mix infested with six agar plugs of each of the isolates. Once fully colonized, the inoculum was mixed with sterilized sand in a 1:7 ratio (by volume), transferred to 300 ml pots and 4 surface sterilized wheat seeds (5 min 70% alcohol) were sown in each pot. Non-inoculated controls were amended with sterilized inoculum. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design with 5 replicates. Disease symptoms were assessed after four weeks. All isolates induced reddish-brown discolorations on the lower stems similar to those observed in the field grown plants. In addition, the infected plants developed dark brown to black discolorations on the crowns and roots and showed clear signs of stunted root growth. These symptoms were further accompanied by chlorosis (yellowing) of the lower leaves starting from the leaf tip. All isolates were successfully reisolated from the infected wheat plants but not from the controls. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. venenatum causing foot and root rot of wheat in Germany. Results from field and greenhouse inoculation experiments indicate that F. venenatum may be an important pathogen of wheat in Germany. Further studies on distribution and relative abundance of the species in the Fusarium foot and root rot complex of wheat in Germany are warranted. In addition, it is important to note that our results contrast the results from previous studies (Farr and Rossman, 2021) which reported F. venenatum primarily as a soil saprophyte and presumably non-pathogenic fungus in its nature. Our findings thus, also warrant the need to further investigate pathogenic potential of this species and the role it may play on other common rotational crops in Germany.

Microsatellite marker based diversity analysis and DNA fingerprinting of Asiatic cotton (Gossypium arboreum) varieties of India

Asiatic cotton (G. arboreum) is one of the important cultivated species of cotton originated in Indian subcontinent. Owing to its climate resilience, Asiatic cotton in particular and desi cotton in general, constitutes valuable genetic resources for cotton improvement to achieve sustainable cotton production in India. In the present study, 24 popular Asiatic cotton varieties were profiled using 300 genome-wide SSR markers. Of these, 48 were identified as distinctly polymorphic which detected a total of 124 alleles ranging from 2 to 5 alleles per loci with an average of 2.58. The genetic dissimilarity among 24 G. arboreum varieties ranged from 0.27 to 0.53 with an average of 0.42 indicating presence of sufficient genetic diversity in Indian arboreum varieties. The dissimilarity based unweighted neighbor joining method of clustering grouped them into 6 distinct clusters. The clustering pattern was found to be inconsistent with their known source or pedigree. We propose a set of 8 informative SSR markers for variety identification in diploid cotton using those, DNA fingerprint of 24 Asiatic cotton varieties was developed. Very low probability of identical match (2.68 × 10–6) with goodness of fit of 0.65 indicated robustness and reliability of the developed DNA fingerprint. Information generated in the present study about pattern of diversity among popular Asiatic cotton varieties of India and identified polymorphic markers will be of immense utility in maintenance of valuable desi cotton varieties and marker assisted breeding.

Communication Network for Sports Activity Monitoring Systems

In this paper, through research and analysis of the communication network of the physical activity monitoring system, we combine wearable technology and identification technology and design a physical health monitoring bracelet that integrates multifaceted physical data collection and effective identity matching function. We match the identity through the chip and collect the physical fitness data generated in the process of exercise and centralized test by the sensor in real-time. Finally, the data transmission is realized through the WIFI communication function to achieve the purpose of monitoring physical exercise and improving physical quality. To ensure the continuity and stability of information transmission, the joint transmission method of direct transmission and indirect transmission is essential. Besides, considering the energy causality limitation of sensor nodes and relay nodes, a collaborative transmission model of wireless body area network based on wireless cognitive network is constructed. And, a power allocation algorithm based on maximum ratio merging and wireless cognitive network is proposed, which puts forward a new idea for the future research of wireless body area network resource allocation.

Dynamic matching of a 300-mm-aperture high-precision interference cavity via a double-ring-point support

The precision of a large-aperture interference cavity is limited by the deformation of the flat owing to support and gravity. In this study, we proposed a double-ring-point support scheme for dynamic matching. The theory was derived from elastic deformation. To obtain an optimal support structure and force operation, the support locations, number of discrete support points, and force distribution were analysed quantitatively using finite element method. Furthermore, matching measurements were analysed in detail, and dynamic matching was implemented by matching different transmission flats to achieve high-precision interference cavity. The identical matching precision demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Finally, with the dynamic matching, the precision of interference cavity is improved from λ/7 to λ/27 (peak-to-valley) for a 300-mm aperture.

A comparative study reveals a similar validity of telepsychiatry and face-to-face psychiatric assessment in emergency room setting

IntroductionTelepsychiatry (TP) can provide an alternative to traditional face-to-face (FTF) assessments. However, TP in the emergency room setting is much less prevalent, probably due to lack of solid evidence about its effectiveness and acceptability.ObjectivesTo directly compare traditional FTF and TP modalities in the emergency room setting.MethodsPsychiatric patients (n=38) presented to the emergency room went through traditional in-person and videoconference TP interviews in varying order. Both FTF and TP interviewers that examined the patients as well as a third psychiatrist, acting as an observer for both modalities, determined the diagnosis, disposition recommendation and indication for involuntary admission.ResultsRater decisions had a high matching on disposition and indication for involuntary admission (Cohen’s Kappa (CK) of 0.84/0.81, 0.95/0.87 and 0.89/0.94 for FTF-TP, Observer-FTF and Observer-TP, respectively). Although identical diagnosis matching between the raters was relatively low, the partial diagnosis matching was high (CK of 0.52/0.81, 0.52/0.85 and 0.56/0.85 for FTF-TP, Observer-FTF and Observer-TP, respectively). Telepsychiatry assessments had comparable acceptability in items such as psychiatrists’ certainty and interviewers’ and patients’ satisfaction.ConclusionsTP and FTF psychiatric assessments in the emergency room settings have similar validity and acceptability. Implementation of TP in emergency room settings might improve the mental health services’ quality and access especially for remote populations. TP is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable treatment for epidemiologically isolated patients and to protect the medical personnel.

Explaining face-voice matching decisions: The contribution of mouth movements, stimulus effects and response biases

Previous studies have shown that face-voice matching accuracy is more consistently above chance for dynamic (i.e. speaking) faces than for static faces. This suggests that dynamic information can play an important role in informing matching decisions. We initially asked whether this advantage for dynamic stimuli is due to shared information across modalities that is encoded in articulatory mouth movements. Participants completed a sequential face-voice matching task with (1) static images of faces, (2) dynamic videos of faces, (3) dynamic videos where only the mouth was visible, and (4) dynamic videos where the mouth was occluded, in a well-controlled stimulus set. Surprisingly, after accounting for random variation in the data due to design choices, accuracy for all four conditions was at chance. Crucially, however, exploratory analyses revealed that participants were not responding randomly, with different patterns of response biases being apparent for different conditions. Our findings suggest that face-voice identity matching may not be possible with above-chance accuracy but that analyses of response biases can shed light upon how people attempt face-voice matching. We discuss these findings with reference to the differential functional roles for faces and voices recently proposed for multimodal person perception.

From 18S to 28S rRNA Gene: An Improved Targeted Sarcocystidae PCR Amplification, Species Identification with Long DNA Sequences.

ABSTRACTSarcocystosis outbreaks in Tioman and Pangkor islands of Malaysia between 2011 and 2014 have raised the need to improve Sarcocystis species detection from environmental samples. In-house works found that published primers amplifying the 18S rRNA gene of Sarcocystis either could not produce the target from environmental samples or produced Sarcocystis DNA sequence that was insufficient for species identification. Using the primer pair of 18S S5 F (published) and 28S R6 R (new), this study improved the PCR amplification of Sarcocystidae to overcome these two difficulties. The PCR product spanned from the 18S to 28S rRNA genes, providing more information for species identification. The long DNA sequence allowed comparison between the “Ident” and “Query Cover” sorting in GenBank identity matching. This revealed the ambiguity in identity matching caused by different lengths of reference DNA sequences, which is seldom discussed in the literature. Using the disparity index test, a measurement of homogeneity in nucleotide substitution pattern, it is shown that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1-5.8S-ITS2 and 28S genes are better than the 18S gene in indicating nucleotide variations, implying better potentials for species identification. The example given by the handful of Sarcocystidae long DNA sequences reported herein calls for the need to report DNA sequence from the 18S to the 28S rRNA genes for species identification, especially among emerging pathogens. DNA sequence reporting should include the hypervariable 5.8S and ITS2 regions where applicable, and not be limited to single gene, per the current general trend.

A three-dimensional approach to visualize pairwise morphological variation and its application to fragmentary palaeontological specimens.

Classifying isolated vertebrate bones to a high level of taxonomic precision can be difficult. Many of Australia’s Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate fossil-bearing deposits, for example, produce large numbers of isolated bones and very few associated or articulated skeletons. Identifying these often fragmentary remains beyond high-level taxonomic ranks, such as Ornithopoda or Theropoda, is difficult and those classified to lower taxonomic levels are often debated. The ever-increasing accessibility to 3D-based comparative techniques has allowed palaeontologists to undertake a variety of shape analyses, such as geometric morphometrics, that although powerful and often ideal, require the recognition of diagnostic landmarks and the generation of sufficiently large data sets to detect clusters and accurately describe major components of morphological variation. As a result, such approaches are often outside the scope of basic palaeontological research that aims to simply identify fragmentary specimens. Herein we present a workflow in which pairwise comparisons between fragmentary fossils and better known exemplars are digitally achieved through three-dimensional mapping of their surface profiles and the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm. To showcase this methodology, we compared a fragmentary theropod ungual (NMV P186153) from Victoria, Australia, identified as a neovenatorid, with the manual unguals of the megaraptoran Australovenator wintonensis (AODF604). We discovered that NMV P186153 was a near identical match to AODF604 manual ungual II-3, differing only in size, which, given their 10–15Ma age difference, suggests stasis in megaraptoran ungual morphology throughout this interval. Although useful, our approach is not free of subjectivity; care must be taken to eliminate the effects of broken and incomplete surfaces and identify the human errors incurred during scaling, such as through replication. Nevertheless, this approach will help to evaluate and identify fragmentary remains, adding a quantitative perspective to an otherwise qualitative endeavour.

Real-Time Vehicle Orientation Classification and Viewpoint-Aware Vehicle Re-Identification

Vehicle re-identification (re-ID) is based on identity matching of vehicles across non-overlapping camera views. Recently, the research on vehicle re-ID attracts increased attention, mainly due to its prominent industrial applications, such as post-crime analysis, traffic flow analysis, and wide-area vehicle tracking. However, despite the increased interest, the problem remains to be challenging. One of the most significant difficulties of vehicle re-ID is the large viewpoint variations due to non-standardized camera placements. In this study, to improve re-ID robustness against viewpoint variations while preserving algorithm efficiency, we exploit the use of vehicle orientation information. First, we analyze and benchmark various deep learning architectures in terms of performance, memory use, and cost on applicability to orientation classification. Secondly, the extracted orientation information is utilized to improve the vehicle re-ID task. For this, we propose a viewpoint-aware multi-branch network that improves the vehicle re-ID performance without increasing the forward inference time. Third, we introduce a viewpoint-aware mini-batching approach which yields improved training and higher re-ID performance. The experiments show an increase of 4.0% mAP and 4.4% rank-1 score on the popular VeRi dataset with the proposed mini-batching strategy, and overall, an increase of 2.2% mAP and 3.8% rank-1 score compared to the ResNet-50 baseline.

MTCNN and FACENET Based Access Control System for Face Detection and Recognition

Face detection and recognition is one of the research hotspots in the field of computer vision, which is widely used in video surveillance and identity matching. The traditional algorithms of face detection include AdaBoost, Haar-like, DPM, etc. These algorithms use face geometric features and template matching for face detection, which is difficult to consider both detection speed and accuracy. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes an improved FaceNet network. The multi-task cascaded convolutional neural networks (MTCNN) is used to achieve rapid face detection and face alignment, and then the FaceNet with improved loss function is used to realize face verification and recognition with high accuracy. We compare the face detection and recognition performance of our network framework with the traditional algorithms and some deep learning algorithms. The experimental results verify that the improved FaceNet can meet the requirements of real-time recognition, and the recognition accuracy reaches 99.85%, which meets the actual demand. It can be effectively applied to face detection and recognition in the Access Control System.