34 research outputs found
Rating traits together or apart: Presentation format affects first impression judgements
No full textIn perception experiments, researchers often collect multiple perceptual judgements from the same stimuli and participants to answer their research questions. While the way in which perceptual judgements are collected may affect the data, research rarely considers task design when investigating this topic. In our experiment, we investigated how two frequently used ways of collecting multiple ratings for affect perceptual judgements, focusing on first impressions of faces. One participant group provided ratings of seven person characteristics (e.g. femininity, youthfulness, trustworthiness) blocked by characteristic, rating faces for one person characteristic at a time, across seven blocks. Another participant group completed one block in which they rated all seven characteristics simultaneously via a list of rating scales. The listed presentation format reduced task duration by 22%, but affected the perceptual ratings in several ways, pointing to reduced data quality. Inter-rater agreement was lower for some person characteristics (youthfulness, femininity, and trustworthiness) in the listed format. Variance in ratings was also reduced for youthfulness, femininity, and dominance, with ratings clustering closer to the middle of the scale. Importantly, correlations between different person characteristics became universally positive in the listed format, indicating reduced independence of judgments. These findings highlight that while presenting multiple judgements at the same time may offer efficiency, this approach can introduce systematic biases and potentially reduce the reliability of perceptual data. We therefore suggest using a blocked presentation format and consider how these trade-offs would impact experiments looking at multiple perceptual judgements collected from the same participants
Rating traits together or apart : Presentation format affects first impression judgements
No full textPeer reviewe
A machine learning approach to Structural Health Monitoring with a view towards wind turbines
No full textThe work of this thesis is centred around Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and
is divided into three main parts.
The thesis starts by exploring di�erent architectures of auto-association. These are
evaluated in order to demonstrate the ability of nonlinear auto-association of neural
networks with one nonlinear hidden layer as it is of great interest in terms of reduced
computational complexity. It is shown that linear PCA lacks performance for novelty
detection. The novel key study which is revealed ampli�es that single hidden layer
auto-associators are not performing in a similar fashion to PCA.
The second part of this study concerns formulating pattern recognition algorithms for
SHM purposes which could be used in the wind energy sector as SHM regarding this
research �eld is still in an embryonic level compared to civil and aerospace engineering.
The purpose of this part is to investigate the e�ectiveness and performance of such
methods in structural damage detection. Experimental measurements such as high
frequency responses functions (FRFs) were extracted from a 9m WT blade throughout
a full-scale continuous fatigue test. A preliminary analysis of a model regression of
virtual SCADA data from an o�shore wind farm is also proposed using Gaussian
processes and neural network regression techniques.
The third part of this work introduces robust multivariate statistical methods into
SHM by inclusively revealing how the in
uence of environmental and operational
variation a�ects features that are sensitive to damage. The algorithms that are
described are the Minimum Covariance Determinant Estimator (MCD) and the Minimum Volume Enclosing Ellipsoid (MVEE). These robust outlier methods are
inclusive and in turn there is no need to pre-determine an undamaged condition
data set, o�ering an important advantage over other multivariate methodologies.
Two real life experimental applications to the Z24 bridge and to an aircraft wing
are analysed. Furthermore, with the usage of the robust measures, the data variable
correlation reveals linear or nonlinear connections
Power, value, and the individual exchange: towards an improved conceptualization of terrorist finance
No full textThis thesis finds that the term ‘terrorist financing’ is a misnomer in that much of the activity encompassed by that term involves neither terrorism nor money. Instead, terrorist financing more accurately refers either to the flow of economic and material value to ‘terrorist’ actors or specific material expressions of support to ‘terrorism,’ however that contested term is defined. This finding not only directly challenges the dominant ways terrorist finance is now conceptualized, but also provides the first unified coherent conceptual framework capable of supporting systematic analysis of the topic. This thesis arrives at this conclusion by first critically examining the various – and often contradictory or incoherent – normative, legal, and political contexts that dominate ‘orthodox’ thinking on terrorism and terrorist finance, and then relocating the financing of terrorism squarely in context of the everyday realities of how terrorism and terrorist actors interact with global and local political economies. This thesis goes beyond existing critical works on terrorist financing, and constructs the necessary conceptual foundation for a vastly more coherent, systematic, and ultimately useful understanding of the financial and economic dimensions of terrorism
Association between cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer in the Women\u27s Health Initiative
No full textThe evidence linking cigarette smoking to the risk of colorectal cancer is inconsistent. We investigated the associations between active and passive smoking and colorectal cancer among 146877 Women\u27s Health Initiative participants. Women reported detailed smoking histories at enrollment. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for the association between smoking and overall and site-specific risk of colorectal cancer. Invasive colorectal cancer was diagnosed in 1242 women over an average of 7.8 years (range = 0.003-11.2 years) of follow-up. In adjusted analyses, statistically significant positive associations were observed between most measures of cigarette smoking and risk of invasive colorectal cancer. Site-specific analyses indicated that current smokers had a statistically significantly increased risk of rectal cancer (HR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.10 to 3.47) but not colon cancer (HR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.77 to 1.38), compared with never smokers. Passive smoke exposure was not associated with colorectal cancer in adjusted analyses. Thus, active exposure to cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for rectal cancer. © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press
A Wireless, Multicolor Fluorescence Image Sensor Implant for Real-Time Monitoring in Cancer Therapy
No full textReal-time monitoring of dynamic biological processes in the body is critical to understanding disease progression and treatment response. This data, for instance, can help address the lower than 50% response rates to cancer immunotherapy. However, current clinical imaging modalities lack the molecular contrast, resolution, and chronic usability for rapid and accurate response assessments. Here, we present a fully wireless image sensor featuring a 2.55 mm CMOS integrated circuit for multicolor fluorescence imaging deep in tissue. The sensor operates wirelessly via ultrasound (US) at 5 cm depth in oil, harvesting energy with 221 mW/cm incident US power density (31% of FDA limits) and backscattering data at 13 kbps with a bit error rate 6 OD excitation blocking and enables three-color imaging for detecting multiple cell types. A 3640-pixel array captures images with <125 m resolution. We demonstrate wireless, dual-color fluorescence imaging of both effector and suppressor immune cells in ex vivo mouse tumor samples with and without immunotherapy. These results show promise for providing rapid insight into therapeutic response and resistance, guiding personalized medicine.*equally contributing author
Author Correction: The influence of HLA genotype on the development of metal hypersensitivity following joint replacement
No full textAssessing interactions between the associations of common genetic susceptibility variants, reproductive history and body mass index with breast cancer risk in the breast cancer association consortium: a combined case-control study.
No full textINTRODUCTION: Several common breast cancer genetic susceptibility variants have recently been identified. We aimed to determine how these variants combine with a subset of other known risk factors to influence breast cancer risk in white women of European ancestry using case-control studies participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. METHODS: We evaluated two-way interactions between each of age at menarche, ever having had a live birth, number of live births, age at first birth and body mass index (BMI) and each of 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (10q26-rs2981582 (FGFR2), 8q24-rs13281615, 11p15-rs3817198 (LSP1), 5q11-rs889312 (MAP3K1), 16q12-rs3803662 (TOX3), 2q35-rs13387042, 5p12-rs10941679 (MRPS30), 17q23-rs6504950 (COX11), 3p24-rs4973768 (SLC4A7), CASP8-rs17468277, TGFB1-rs1982073 and ESR1-rs3020314). Interactions were tested for by fitting logistic regression models including per-allele and linear trend main effects for SNPs and risk factors, respectively, and single-parameter interaction terms for linear departure from independent multiplicative effects. RESULTS: These analyses were applied to data for up to 26,349 invasive breast cancer cases and up to 32,208 controls from 21 case-control studies. No statistical evidence of interaction was observed beyond that expected by chance. Analyses were repeated using data from 11 population-based studies, and results were very similar. CONCLUSIONS: The relative risks for breast cancer associated with the common susceptibility variants identified to date do not appear to vary across women with different reproductive histories or body mass index (BMI). The assumption of multiplicative combined effects for these established genetic and other risk factors in risk prediction models appears justified
Author Correction: Federated learning enables big data for rare cancer boundary detection.
No full text10.1038/s41467-023-36188-7NATURE COMMUNICATIONS14
Popular political oratory and itinerant lecturing in Yorkshire and the North East in the age of Chartism, c. 1837-60
No full textItinerant lecturers declaiming upon free trade, Chartism, temperance, or anti-slavery could be heard in market places and halls across the country during the years 1837-60. The power of the spoken word was such that all major pressure groups employed lecturers and sent them on extensive tours. Print historians tend to overplay the importance of newspapers and tracts in disseminating political ideas and forming public opinion. This thesis demonstrates the importance of older, traditional forms of communication. Inert printed pages were no match for charismatic oratory. Combining personal magnetism, drama and immediacy, the itinerant lecturer was the most effective medium through which to reach those with limited access to books, newspapers or national political culture. Orators crucially united their dispersed audiences in national struggles for reform, fomenting discussion and coalescing political opinion, while railways, the telegraph and expanding press reportage allowed speakers and their arguments to circulate rapidly.
Understanding of political oratory and public meetings has been skewed by over-emphasis upon the hustings and high-profile politicians. This has generated two misconceptions: that political meetings were generally rowdy and that a golden age of political oratory was secured only through Gladstone’s legendary stumping tours. However, this thesis argues that, far from being disorderly, public meetings were carefully regulated and controlled offering disenfranchised males a genuine democratic space for political discussion. Its detailed research into Yorkshire and the North East, demonstrates both the growth of popular political speechmaking and the emergence of a class of professional lecturers. It identifies a paradigm shift from classical oratory to more populist styles of speaking, as more humble speakers took to the platform; and it argues that through the growth of popular political oratory the platform had been rehabilitated by the 1860s and the lecture format commercialize
