Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Identification Process (identification + process)
Selected AbstractsIdentification and classification of skin sensitizers: identifying false positives and false negativesCONTACT DERMATITIS, Issue 5 2006David A. Basketter The first step in regulatory evaluation of substances involves the identification of their intrinsic hazards, including the potential for skin sensitization. This is, quite properly, entirely different from assessment of the risks to human health, which might arise from incorporation of substances in products. EU guidance on regulations concerning the classification of skin sensitizers suggests a range of sources of information be deployed in the hazard identification process. These include chemical structure, predictive animal tests, and various types of human data. Where the information is clear-cut, then uncertainties rarely arise. However, for some materials, discordant information arises, perhaps because the substance is on the borderline of test sensitivity and classification (sensitizing materials of insufficient potency do not classified according to the EU scheme), due to conflicting results in predictive tests or for other reasons. In this study, we review data on a number of substances where a classification decision is complicated by such discordances and seek to use these examples to demonstrate how best to make a weight of evidence decision on whether a substance should, or should not, be classified as a skin sensitizer. [source] Integrating DNA data and traditional taxonomy to streamline biodiversity assessment: an example from edaphic beetles in the Klamath ecoregion, California, USADIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 5 2006Ryan M. Caesar ABSTRACT Conservation and land management decisions may be misguided by inaccurate or misinterpreted knowledge of biodiversity. Non-systematists often lack taxonomic expertise necessary for an accurate assessment of biodiversity. Additionally, there are far too few taxonomists to contribute significantly to the task of identifying species for specimens collected in biodiversity studies. While species level identification is desirable for making informed management decisions concerning biodiversity, little progress has been made to reduce this taxonomic deficiency. Involvement of non-systematists in the identification process could hasten species identification. Incorporation of DNA sequence data has been recognized as one way to enhance biodiversity assessment and species identification. DNA data are now technologically and economically feasible for most scientists to apply in biodiversity studies. However, its use is not widespread and means of its application has not been extensively addressed. This paper illustrates how such data can be used to hasten biodiversity assessment of species using a little-known group of edaphic beetles. Partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I was sequenced for 171 individuals of feather-wing beetles (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae) from the Klamath ecoregion, which is part of a biodiversity hotspot, the California Floristic Province. A phylogram of these data was reconstructed via parsimony and the strict consensus of 28,000 equally parsimonious trees was well resolved except for peripheral nodes. Forty-two voucher specimens were selected for further identification from clades that were associated with many synonymous and non-synonymous nucleotide changes. A ptiliid taxonomic expert identified nine species that corresponded to monophyletic groups. These results allowed for a more accurate assessment of ptiliid species diversity in the Klamath ecoregion. In addition, we found that the number of amino acid changes or percentage nucleotide difference did not associate with species limits. This study demonstrates that the complementary use of taxonomic expertise and molecular data can improve both the speed and the accuracy of species-level biodiversity assessment. We believe this represents a means for non-systematists to collaborate directly with taxonomists in species identification and represents an improvement over methods that rely solely on parataxonomy or sequence data. [source] Improvement in Latent Fingerprint Detection on Thermal Paper Using a One-Step Ninhydrin Treatment with Polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP)JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 4 2010Lothar Schwarz Dr. Phil. Abstract:, Most thermosensitive surfaces of thermal paper turn black when they come into contact with polar organic solvents such as are used in ninhydrin petroleum benzin solution. This dark staining reduces the contrast between the developed fingerprint and the background to such an extent that the identification process becomes very difficult. Integrating polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP) into a ninhydrin solution prevents the black staining, and the developed fingerprints appear in clear contrast to the background. The new ninhydrin solution containing PVP is successful compared to the two-step ninhydrin,acetone washing method for thermal paper which is popular in Germany. [source] EFD: A Hybrid Knowledge/Statistical-Based System for the Detection of FraudJOURNAL OF RISK AND INSURANCE, Issue 3 2002John A. Major Electronic Fraud Detection (EFD) assists Investigative Consultants in the Managed Care & Employee Benefits Security Unit of The Travelers Insurance Companies in the detection and preinvestigative analysis of health care provider fraud. The task EFD performs, scanning a large population of health insurance claims in search of likely fraud, has never been done manually. Furthermore, the available database has few positive examples. Thus, neither existing knowledge engineering techniques nor statistical methods are sufficient for designing the identification process. To overcome these problems, EFD uses knowledge discovery techniques on two levels. First, EFD integrates expert knowledge with statistical information assessment to identify cases of unusual provider behavior. The heart of EFD is 27 behavioral heuristics, knowledge-based ways of viewing and measuring provider behavior. Rules operate on them to identify providers whose behavior merits a closer look by the investigative consultants. Second, machine learning is used to develop new rules and improve the identification process. Pilot operations involved analysis of nearly 22,000 providers in six metropolitan areas. The pilot is implemented in SAS Institute's SAS System, AICorp's Knowledge Base Management System, and Borland International's Turbo Prolog. [source] Integration of DNA barcoding into an ongoing inventory of complex tropical biodiversityMOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 2009DANIEL H. JANZEN Abstract Inventory of the caterpillars, their food plants and parasitoids began in 1978 for today's Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), in northwestern Costa Rica. This complex mosaic of 120 000 ha of conserved and regenerating dry, cloud and rain forest over 0,2000 m elevation contains at least 10 000 species of non-leaf-mining caterpillars used by more than 5000 species of parasitoids. Several hundred thousand specimens of ACG-reared adult Lepidoptera and parasitoids have been intensively and extensively studied morphologically by many taxonomists, including most of the co-authors. DNA barcoding , the use of a standardized short mitochondrial DNA sequence to identify specimens and flush out undisclosed species , was added to the taxonomic identification process in 2003. Barcoding has been found to be extremely accurate during the identification of about 100 000 specimens of about 3500 morphologically defined species of adult moths, butterflies, tachinid flies, and parasitoid wasps. Less than 1% of the species have such similar barcodes that a molecularly based taxonomic identification is impossible. No specimen with a full barcode was misidentified when its barcode was compared with the barcode library. Also as expected from early trials, barcoding a series from all morphologically defined species, and correlating the morphological, ecological and barcode traits, has revealed many hundreds of overlooked presumptive species. Many but not all of these cryptic species can now be distinguished by subtle morphological and/or ecological traits previously ascribed to ,variation' or thought to be insignificant for species-level recognition. Adding DNA barcoding to the inventory has substantially improved the quality and depth of the inventory, and greatly multiplied the number of situations requiring further taxonomic work for resolution. [source] Accuracy of medicare claims data in identifying Parkinsonism cases: Comparison with the medicare current beneficiary surveyMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 4 2007Katia Noyes PhD Abstract Study Purpose Administrative databases are commonly used to examine use of healthcare service, with researchers relying on diagnostic codes to identify medical conditions. This study evaluates the accuracy of administrative claims in identifying Parkinsonism cases compared to the self-reported Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods The reference cases were identified based on the self-reported PD status and the use of PD drugs collected by the 1992,2000 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey that contained 72,922 observations from 30,469 individuals. Using ICD-9 CM, cases with PD were extracted from the corresponding Medicare claims. We compared prevalence of PD obtained using different types of claims. Results The sensitivities were the highest when all claims were used (66%). All the specificities were greater than 99%. When drug use information was included in the gold standard, the sensitivities became lower, while the specificities and positive predictive values (PPVs) increased. Using more diagnostic codes improved the sensitivity of the identification process but reduced PPVs. Conclusions Administrative claims can provide fairly accurate and practical approach to "rule in" patients with PD. Depending on the purpose of evaluation, researchers may consider using more categories of claims to improve the sensitivity of the identification algorithm or use fewer diagnoses to minimize number of false positive cases. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society [source] IntelliMS: A platform to efficiently manage and visualize tandem mass spectral dataPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 23-24 2008Min-Seok Kwon Abstract With the development of high-speed mass spectrometric techniques, it becomes important to manage large amounts of spectrometric data accurately. We have developed a new data management system with a visualization function named IntelliMS, which can load data into a search engine, filter out the insignificant data, create diagrams of the identification process from spectra to protein and share all the resulting datasets. This software can be used to efficiently manage complicated mass spectral data and the corresponding protein identification information obtained from various proteomics analyses. [source] A versatile electrophoresis system for the analysis of high- and low-molecular-weight proteinsELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 11 2003Christophe Tastet Abstract A new, versatile, multiphasic buffer system for high-resolution sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of proteins in the relative molecular weight range of 300,000,3000 Da is described. The system, based on the theory of multiphasic zone electrophoresis, allows complete stacking and destacking of proteins in the above Mr range. The buffer system uses taurine and chloride as trailing and leading ion, respectively, and Tris, at a pH close to its pKa, as the buffering counterion. Coupled with limited variation in the acrylamide concentration, this electrophoresis system allows to tailor the resolution in the 6,200 kDa Mr range, with minimal difficulties in the post electrophoretic identification processes. [source] Externalization of employment in a service environment: the role of organizational and customer identificationJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2008Scott A. Johnson This study investigates the impact of employment externalization (in the form of limited-term vs. permanent employment status) on customer-oriented service behavior, and how identification processes may help to resolve the ,paradox of externalization' (i.e., organizations relying more on potentially disenfranchised employees to maintain strong connections with their customers). Survey data were obtained from 369 sales, service, and technical support personnel from the Canadian subsidiary of a large international service organization in the high technology sector. Organizational and customer identification fully mediate the relationship between employment status and customer-oriented service behavior. Additionally, the perceived external image of the organization and the visibility of one's affiliation with the organization moderate the relationships between employment status and organizational and customer identification. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On the association between serial naming speed for letters and digits and word-reading skill: towards a developmental accountJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 4 2005Judith A. Bowey The current study examined several alternative explanations of the association between serial naming speed within fourth-grade children by determining the extent to which the association between word reading and naming speed for letters and numbers is mediated by global processing speed, alphanumeric symbol processing efficiency and phonological processing ability. Children were given multiple measures of key constructs, i.e. word-level reading, serial naming of both alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric items, phonological processing ability, articulation rate and global processing speed. The robust association between alphanumeric naming speed and reading within fourth-grade children was largely mediated by phonological processing ability. Markedly different patterns of results were observed for naming speed for letters and digits and naming speed for colours and pictures in children of this age. Relative to the latter, alphanumeric naming speed better assesses an underlying phonological processing ability that is common to word-reading ability. We argue that item identification processes contribute little to individual differences in alphanumeric naming speed within relatively proficient readers and that the extent to which alphanumeric naming speed primarily reflects phonological processing is likely to vary with the level of overlearning of letters and numbers and their names. [source] The Politicization of Migrants: Further Evidence that Politicized Collective Identity is a Dual IdentityPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Bernd Simon The article examines the role of collective identification processes in the politicization of Russian migrants in Germany. Building on the assumption that politicized collective identity (PCI) is a dual identity, the authors predicted and found that dual identification as both Russian and German was positively related to politicization among members of the Russian minority in Germany. This relationship held up even when the influences of several sociodemographic variables, past political activity, and other forms of collective identification were statistically controlled. In addition, perceived maltreatment of Russian migrants in Germany moderated the relationship between dual identification and politicization in keeping with the theoretical assumption that the development of PCI presupposes high awareness of shared grievances. Finally, dual identification was unrelated to acceptance of political violence, but positively related to self-restriction to peaceful political means. The constructive role of politicization driven by dual identification in social integration is discussed. [source] Cultural similarities and differences in social identification in Japan and AustraliaASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Emiko S. Kashima A comparison of social identification processes in Australia and Japan found some similarities and differences. In both countries, identification with smaller face-to-face groups was found to be stronger than identification with larger social categories; however, Australians scored higher on the affective dimension of social identification, whereas Japanese scored higher on the cognitive dimension. Moreover, positive situations from Australia and negative situations from Japan were estimated by respondents from both cultures to be more influential in determining how much they identify with their ingroups, showing a cultural situation-bias effect. Situational affordances of social identification across cultures are discussed. [source] Religious Migration and Political Upheaval: German Moravians at Bethel in South Australia, 1851,1907AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 3 2010Felicity Jensz During the evangelical awakening of eighteenth-century Europe, numerous religious communities were founded in order to create a geographical space in which religious and social identities could be constructed, including several communities of the Moravian Church. This Protestant Episcopal Church was based in Germany, but expanded from the mid-eighteenth century throughout the colonial world in response to political turmoil. This paper traces the establishment of the Moravian town of Bethel in South Australia and the role of religion and ethnic backgrounds in the identification processes of Europeans in the British colonial world. It further analyses the role of politics both locally and internationally in the formation of such a settlement, and the dynamic exchange between the European headquarters of the Brethren and the "colony" of Moravians in South Australia in order to demonstrate how interactions between migration and religion affected the European world. [source] Blame and family conflict: symptomatic children as scapegoatsCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2002Rivka Yahav ABSTRACT The study's aim was to examine the relation between children's symptom type, specifically externalized vs. internalized symptoms, and children's perception of being blamed by family members for various family conflicts. The research hypothesis was based on theories of family therapy, in particular on the concept of scapegoating and projective identification processes. The subjects were chosen from treatment centres for children and adolescents, using the Achenbach Self-Report Questionnaire. Subjects included males and females, aged 10,17, who had either internalized or externalized symptoms and no history of organic or psychotic disorders. The control group consisted of non-symptomatic children. The research groups also included each child's sibling closest in chronological age, who served as an additional control group. A total of 161 children participated in the study. It was found that externalizing children reported greater subjection to parental blame than did the other children. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||