Macquarie University

About: Macquarie University is a education organization based out in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14075 authors who have published 47673 publications receiving 1416184 citations. The organization is also known as: Macquarie uni.

Maximum neighborhood margin discriminant projection for classification

Abstract: We develop a novel maximum neighborhood margin discriminant projection (MNMDP) technique for dimensionality reduction of high-dimensional data. It utilizes both the local information and class information to model the intraclass and interclass neighborhood scatters. By maximizing the margin between intraclass and interclass neighborhoods of all points, MNMDP cannot only detect the true intrinsic manifold structure of the data but also strengthen the pattern discrimination among different classes. To verify the classification performance of the proposed MNMDP, it is applied to the PolyU HRF and FKP databases, the AR face database, and the UCI Musk database, in comparison with the competing methods such as PCA and LDA. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our MNMDP in pattern classification.

Family enhancement of cognitive style in anxious and aggressive children.

Abstract: Previous research has shown that anxious adults provide more threat interpretations of ambiguous stimuli than other clinic and nonclinic persons. We were interested in investigating if the same bias occurs in anxious children and how family processes impact on these children's interpretations of ambiguity. Anxious, oppositional, and nonclinical children and their parents were asked separately to interpret and provide plans of action to ambiguous scenarios. Afterwards, Each family was asked to discuss two of these situations as a family and for the child to provide a final response. The results showed that anxious and oppositional children were both more likely to interpret ambiguous scenarios in a threatening manner. However, the two clinic groups differed in that the anxious children predominantly chose avoidant solutions whereas the oppositional children chose aggressive solutions. After family discussions, both the anxious children's avoidant plans of action and the oppositional children's aggressive plans increased. Thus, this study provides the first evidence of family enhancement of avoidant and aggressive responses in children. These results support a model of anxiety that emphasizes the development of an anxious cognitive style in the context of anxiety-supporting family processes.

Measuring spoken language: a unit for all reasons

Abstract: The analysis of spoken language requires a principled way of dividing transcribed data into units in order to assess features such as accuracy and complexity. If such analyses are to be comparable across different studies, there must be agreement on the nature of the unit, and it must be possible to apply this unit reliably to a range of different types of speech data. There are a number of different units in use, the various merits of which have been discussed by Crookes (1990). However, while these have been used to facilitate the analysis of spoken language data, there is presently no comprehensive, accessible definition of any of them, nor are detailed guides available on how to identify such units in data sets. Research reports tend to provide simplistic two-line definitions of units exemplified, if at all, by unproblematic written examples. These are inadequate when applied to transcriptions of complex oral data, which tend not to lend themselves easily to a clear division into units. This paper was motivated by the need each of the three authors felt for a reliable and comprehensively defined unit to assist with the analysis of a variety of recordings of native and non-native speakers of English. We first discuss in very general terms the criteria according to which such a unit might be selected. Next, we examine the main categories of unit which have been adopted previously and provide a justification for the particular type of unit that we have chosen. Focusing on this unit, we identify a number of problems which are associated with the definition and exemplification of units of this type, and give examples of the awkward cases found in actual data. Finally we offer a definition of our unit, the Analysis of Speech Unit (AS-unit), providing adequate detail to address the problematic data analyses we have illustrated.

Continental-scale pollution of estuaries with antibiotic resistance genes

Abstract: Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have moved from the environmental resistome into human commensals and pathogens, driven by human selection with antimicrobial agents. These genes have increased in abundance in humans and domestic animals, to become common components of waste streams. Estuarine habitats lie between terrestrial/freshwater and marine ecosystems, acting as natural filtering points for pollutants. Here, we have profiled ARGs in sediments from 18 estuaries over 4,000 km of coastal China using high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and investigated their relationship with bacterial communities, antibiotic residues and socio-economic factors. ARGs in estuarine sediments were diverse and abundant, with over 200 different resistance genes being detected, 18 of which were found in all 90 sediment samples. The strong correlations of identified resistance genes with known mobile elements, network analyses and partial redundancy analysis all led to the conclusion that human activity is responsible for the abundance and dissemination of these ARGs. Such widespread pollution with xenogenetic elements has environmental, agricultural and medical consequences. A survey of sediments from 18 estuaries over 4000 km of coastal China reveals diverse and abundant antibiotic resistance genes. Analyses of socio-economic factors suggest that the presence of antibiotic resistance genes correlates with human activity.