Florida Atlantic University

About: Florida Atlantic University is a education organization based out in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7788 authors who have published 19830 publications receiving 535694 citations. The organization is also known as: FAU & Florida Atlantic.

Unsupervised image segmentation evaluation and refinement using a multi-scale approach

Abstract: In this study, a multi-scale approach is used to improve the segmentation of a high spatial resolution (30 cm) color infrared image of a residential area. First, a series of 25 image segmentations are performed in Definiens Professional 5 using different scale parameters. The optimal image segmentation is identified using an unsupervised evaluation method of segmentation quality that takes into account global intra-segment and inter-segment heterogeneity measures (weighted variance and Moran’s I, respectively). Once the optimal segmentation is determined, under-segmented and over-segmented regions in this segmentation are identified using local heterogeneity measures (variance and Local Moran’s I). The under- and over-segmented regions are refined by (1) further segmenting under-segmented regions at finer scales, and (2) merging over-segmented regions with spectrally similar neighbors. This process leads to the creation of several segmentations consisting of segments generated at three different segmentation scales. Comparison of single- and multi-scale segmentations shows that identifying and refining under- and over-segmented regions using local statistics can improve global segmentation results.

Religiosity and Deviance: Toward a Contingency Theory of Constraining Effects

Abstract: Perspectives on the relationship between individual religiosity and deviance are examined and contextual properties thought to condition the relationship are identified. Hypothesized linkages between these contextual variables and the strength of relationship between religiosity and nine types of deviant behavior are tested. Results indicate the religiosity-deviance relationship varies predictably across sociodemographic contexts, but not always in directions suggested by extant theories. Individual religiosity appears to constrain deviant behavior most effectively in environments characterized by general normative ambiguity, low social integration, generalized perceptions of low peer conformity, and a relatively high proportion of religious nonaffiliates. An integrated interpretation of these counterintuitive findings suggests religious participation can operate as a unique deviance inhibitor only when conformity inducing mechanisms characteristic of religious communities are not reproduced in the larger community. Hence the impact of religious constraints is increased where secular controls are absent or weak.

The role of immaturity in human development.

Abstract: The possibility that infants' and young children's immature behaviors and cognitions are sometimes adaptive is explored and interpreted in terms of evolutionary theory. It is argued that developmental immaturity had an adaptive role in evolution and continues to have an adaptive role in human development. The role of developmental retardation in human evolution is discussed, followed by an examination of the relation between humans' extended childhood and brain plasticity. Behavioral neoteny, as exemplified by play, is examined, as are some potentially adaptive aspects of infants' perception and cognition that limit the amount of information they can process. Aspects of immature cognition during early childhood that may have some contemporaneous adaptive value are also discussed. It is proposed that viewing immaturity as sometimes adaptive to the developing child alters how children and their development are viewed. Nature wants children to be children before they are men. If we deliberately depart from this order, we shall get premature fruits which are neither ripe nor well flavored and which soon decay. We shall have youthful sages and grown up children. Childhood has ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling, peculiar to itself; nothing can be more foolish than to substitute our ways for them. —Jean Jacques Rousseau

The Impact of Trader Type on the Futures Volatility-Volume Relation

Abstract: We examine the volatility-volume relation in futures markets using volume data categorized by type of trader. We find that the positive volatility-volume relation is driven by the general public, a group of traders who are distant from the trading floor and therefore without precise information on order flow. Clearing members and floor traders who observe order flow often decrease volatility. Our findings are consistent with Shalen's (1993) hypothesis that uninformed traders who cannot differentiate liquidity demand from fundamental value change increase volatility. IN THEIR 1993 STUDY, Bessembinder and Seguin suggest that the volatilityvolume relation in financial markets may depend on the type of trader. We investigate whether specific types of futures market traders, which we distinguish by the information they possess, actually have different effects on the positive volatility-volume relation. We use the Liquidity Data Bank (LDB) to test this information effect. The LDB is a database that separates futures volume by four types of traders: market makers, clearing members (such as financial institutions) trading for their own accounts, floor traders trading for other exchange members, and the general public (individual speculators, managed funds, and small