We present a hybrid neural-network for human face recognition which compares favourably with other methods. The system combines local image sampling, a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network, and a convolutional neural network. The SOM provides a quantization of the image samples into a topological space where inputs that are nearby in the original space are also nearby in the output space, thereby providing dimensionality reduction and invariance to minor changes in the image sample, and the convolutional neural network provides partial invariance to translation, rotation, scale, and deformation. The convolutional network extracts successively larger features in a hierarchical set of layers. We present results using the Karhunen-Loeve transform in place of the SOM, and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) in place of the convolutional network for comparison. We use a database of 400 images of 40 individuals which contains quite a high degree of variability in expression, pose, and facial details. We analyze the computational complexity and discuss how new classes could be added to the trained recognizer.

Face recognition: a convolutional neural-network approach

Series Editor's Preface. Introduction by John Breuilly. Acknowledgements. 1. Definitions. State and nation. The nation. 2. Culture in Agrarian Society. Power and culture in the agro-literature society. The varieties of agrarian rulers. 3. Industrial Society. The society of perpetual growth. Social genetics. The age of universal high culture. 4. The Transition to an Age of Nationalism. A note on the weakness of nationalism. Wild and garden culture. 5. What is a Nation. The course of true nationalism never did run smooth. 6. Social Entropy and Equality in Industrial Society. Obstacles to entropy. Fissures and barriers. A diversity of focus. 7. A Typology of Nationalisms. The varieties of nationalist experience. Diaspora nationalism. 8. The Future of Nationalism. Industrial culture - one or many?. 9. Nationalism and Ideology. Who is for Nuremberg?. One nation, one state. 10. Conclusion. What is not being said. Summary. Select bibliography. Bilbliography of Ernest Gellner's writing: Ian Jarvie. Index

Nations and Nationalism

Preface Introduction: Traditions of Nationhood in France and Germany I. The Institution of Citizenship 1. Citizenship as Social Closure 2. The French Revolution and the Invention of National Citizenship 3. State, State-System, and Citizenship in Germany II. Defining The Citizenry: The Bounds of Belonging 4. Citizenship and Naturalization in France and Germany 5. Migrants into Citizens: The Crystallization of Jus Soli in Late-Nineteenth-Century France 6. The Citizenry as Community of Descent: The Nationalization of Citizenship in Wilhelmine Germany 7. \"Etre Francais, Cela se Merite\": Immigration and the Politics of Citizenship in France in the 1980s 8. Continuities in the German Politics of Citizenship Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany.

This paper examines automated iris recognition as a biometrically based technology for personal identification and verification. The motivation for this endeavor stems from the observation that the human iris provides a particularly interesting structure on which to base a technology for noninvasive biometric assessment. In particular the biomedical literature suggests that irises are as distinct as fingerprints or patterns of retinal blood vessels. Further, since the iris is an overt body, its appearance is amenable to remote examination with the aid of a machine vision system. The body of this paper details issues in the design and operation of such systems. For the sake of illustration, extant systems are described in some amount of detail.

Iris recognition: an emerging biometric technology

Because biometrics-based authentication offers several advantages over other authentication methods, there has been a significant surge in the use of biometrics for user authentication in recent years. It is important that such biometrics-based authentication systems be designed to withstand attacks when employed in security-critical applications, especially in unattended remote applications such as e-commerce. In this paper we outline the inherent strengths of biometrics-based authentication, identify the weak links in systems employing biometrics-based authentication, and present new solutions for eliminating some of these weak links. Although, for illustration purposes, fingerprint authentication is used throughout, our analysis extends to other biometrics-based methods.

Enhancing security and privacy in biometrics-based authentication systems

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents.

Complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs) are tissue-invasive infections leading to abscess formation or generalized peritonitis. The management of cIAIs involves operative or percutaneous intervention to obtain surgical control of the source. Nonetheless, patients with cIAIs are at risk of sepsis and mortality [1–4].

Empiric antimicrobial therapy with appropriate agents is an important component of treatment [5, 6]. Initial empiric therapy that is not effective against infecting pathogens increases costs, treatment failure, and death [7–10]. Because of this, cIAIs are an important infection category for evaluation of the efficacy of investigational agents.

The well-recognized appearance of antimicrobial resistance among gram-negative bacteria has stimulated the development of novel agents [11], particularly those targeting Enterobacteriaceae that produce extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) [12], which confer resistance to most β-lactam antimicrobial agents [1].

Ceftolozane/tazobactam consists of a novel cephalosporin and an established β-lactamase inhibitor that is being developed to address antimicrobial resistance in serious infections caused by gram-negative pathogens, including cIAI, complicated urinary tract infection/pyelonephritis (cUTI), and ventilated nosocomial pneumonia. In vitro activity of ceftolozane/tazobactam has been confirmed against ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae, drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa [13–16], and some Streptococcus species [17]. The results from a phase 2 study with ceftolozane/tazobactam in combination with metronidazole in cIAI supported further development for this indication [18].

We now report the results from ASPECT-cIAI (Assessment of the Safety Profile and Efficacy of Ceftolozane/Tazobactam in Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections), a large global phase 3 clinical program that evaluated intravenous ceftolozane/tazobactam plus metronidazole vs meropenem for the treatment of hospitalized adult patients with cIAI.

/pdf/ceftolozane-tazobactam-plus-metronidazole-for-complicated-4sx86504b1.pdf

Ceftolozane/Tazobactam Plus Metronidazole for Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections in an Era of Multidrug Resistance: Results From a Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase 3 Trial (ASPECT-cIAI)

Biometrics is emerging as the most foolproof method of automated personal identification in demand in an ever more automated world. Biometric systems are automated methods of verifying or recognizing the identity of a living person on the basis of some physiological characteristic, like a fingerprint or iris pattern, or some aspect of behavior, like handwriting or keystroke patterns. This paper describes the range of biometric systems in development or on the market including: handwriting; fingerprints; iris patterns; human faces; and speech. >

Vital signs of identity [biometrics]

Early retinal damage in experimental diabetes: electroretinographical and morphological observations.

The extravascular milieu around laser-induced experimental subretinal neovascularization (SRN) was studied during the evolution of the neovascular membrane from its early leaky stage to its late involuted stage. When the first signs of visible leakage appeared on angiography, newly formed vessels were spread in the subretinal space around the break in Bruch's membrane, fluid was accumulating in the subretinal space, and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells were proliferating in a papillary pattern around the newly formed vessels; the RPE proliferation began with the undamaged cells at the edges of the laser injury. With further maturation, the RPE continued to envelope the subretinal vessels. This RPE proliferation was associated with the disappearance of fluid between the enveloped vessels and the sensory retina, and the gradual cessation of fluorescein leakage during angiography. At the end of the involution process, when the neovascular membrane no longer demonstrated any leakage, the subretinal vessels were found to be tightly enveloped by RPE cells, and no fluid separated them from the sensory retina. The authors' results suggest that involution of the neovascular membrane with maturation, as demonstrated by the cessation of visible fluorescein leakage, is the result of RPE proliferation that tightly envelopes the newly formed vessels and probably resorbs the previously accumulated subretinal fluid, as well as preventing its further accumulation in the subretinal space.

Benjamin Miller

Papers

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents.

Ceftolozane/Tazobactam Plus Metronidazole for Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections in an Era of Multidrug Resistance: Results From a Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase 3 Trial (ASPECT-cIAI)

Vital signs of identity [biometrics]

Early retinal damage in experimental diabetes: electroretinographical and morphological observations.

The role of retinal pigment epithelium in the involution of subretinal neovascularization.