Michigan State University

About: Michigan State University is a education organization based out in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 60109 authors who have published 137074 publications receiving 5633022 citations. The organization is also known as: MSU & Michigan State.

Image classification for content-based indexing

Abstract: Grouping images into (semantically) meaningful categories using low-level visual features is a challenging and important problem in content-based image retrieval. Using binary Bayesian classifiers, we attempt to capture high-level concepts from low-level image features under the constraint that the test image does belong to one of the classes. Specifically, we consider the hierarchical classification of vacation images; at the highest level, images are classified as indoor or outdoor; outdoor images are further classified as city or landscape; finally, a subset of landscape images is classified into sunset, forest, and mountain classes. We demonstrate that a small vector quantizer (whose optimal size is selected using a modified MDL criterion) can be used to model the class-conditional densities of the features, required by the Bayesian methodology. The classifiers have been designed and evaluated on a database of 6931 vacation photographs. Our system achieved a classification accuracy of 90.5% for indoor/outdoor, 95.3% for city/landscape, 96.6% for sunset/forest and mountain, and 96% for forest/mountain classification problems. We further develop a learning method to incrementally train the classifiers as additional data become available. We also show preliminary results for feature reduction using clustering techniques. Our goal is to combine multiple two-class classifiers into a single hierarchical classifier.

Relationship between concussion and neuropsychological performance in college football players.

Abstract: ContextDespite the high prevalence and potentially serious outcomes associated with concussion in athletes, there is little systematic research examining risk factors and short- and long-term outcomes.ObjectivesTo assess the relationship between concussion history and learning disability (LD) and the association of these variables with neuropsychological performance and to evaluate postconcussion recovery in a sample of college football players.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA total of 393 athletes from 4 university football programs across the United States received preseason baseline evaluations between May 1997 and February 1999. Subjects who had subsequent football-related acute concussions (n=16) underwent neuropsychological comparison with matched control athletes from within the sample (n=10).Main Outcome MeasuresClinical interview, 8 neuropsychological measures, and concussion symptom scale ratings at baseline and after concussion.ResultsOf the 393 players, 129 (34%) had experienced 1 previous concussion and 79 (20%) had experienced 2 or more concussions. Multivariate analysis of variance yielded significant main effects for both LD (P<.001) and concussion history (P=.009), resulting in lowered baseline neuropsychological performance. A significant interaction was found between LD and history of multiple concussions and LD on 2 neuropsychological measures (Trail-Making Test, Form B [P=.007] and Symbol Digit Modalities Test [P=.009]), indicating poorer performance for the group with LD and multiple concussions compared with other groups. A discriminant function analysis using neuropsychological testing of athletes 24 hours after acute in-season concussion compared with controls resulted in an overall 89.5% correct classification rate.ConclusionsOur study suggests that neuropsychological assessment is a useful indicator of cognitive functioning in athletes and that both history of multiple concussions and LD are associated with reduced cognitive performance. These variables may be detrimentally synergistic and should receive further study.

The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets in Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities for Development

Abstract: Why are we writing, in the same article, about ‘supermarkets’ and ‘development’ in a region where 39% of the people are in poverty and 13% in absolute poverty (Echeverria, 1998)? Are not supermarkets niche players for rich consumers in the capital cities of the region? The answer is ‘no’; that traditional image is now a distant memory of the preliberalisation period before the 1990s. This theme issue of Development Policy Review shows that supermarkets are now dominant players in most of the agrifood economy of Latin America, having moved from a rough -estimate population-weighted average of 10-20% in 1990 to 50-60% of the retail sector in 2000. In one globalising decade, Latin American retailing made the change which took the US retail sector 50 years. The supermarkets, together with large-scale food manufacturers, have deeply transformed agrifood markets in the region. Many of those changes spell great challenges – even exclusion – for small farms and processing and distribution firms, but also potentially great opportunities. Development policy and programmes need to adapt to this radical change. The above findings are derived from the articles in this theme issue, the key points of which are compared in this overview article, and set in the context of background and other recent case literature. Earlier versions of the articles 1 were presented at the International Workshop ‘Concentration in the Processing and Retail Segments of the Agrifood System in Latin America, and its Effects on the Rural Poor’, held in November 2000 in Santiago, Chile, organised by the International Network for Research on Farming Systems (RIMISP) and funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom. The nine articles are on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico. They focus on the rise of supermarkets and large-scale food manufacturers over the 1990s to the present, and illustrate the effects of their rise on the dairy products and fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) sectors. Dairy and FFV were chosen because of the interest development programmes have for these products: they are seen as good prospects for sma ll farms and firms because of their higher value-added and income-generation potential and their relative lack of economies of scale (compared with basic grains and

Logistics Service Quality as a Segment-Customized Process

Abstract: Logistics excellence has become a powerful source of competitive differentiation within diverse marketing offerings of world-class firms. Although researchers have suggested that logistics competencies complement marketing efforts, empirical evidence is lacking on what logistics service quality means to customers and whether it has different meanings for separate customer segments. The authors present empirical support for nine related logistics service quality constructs; demonstrate their unidimensionality, validity, and reliability across four customer segments of a large logistics organization; and provide empirical support for a logistics service quality process. Although structural equation modeling offers support for the logistics service quality process across customer segments, the authors find that the relative parameter estimates differ for each segment, which suggests that firms ought to customize their logistics services by customer segments.

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Abstract: Experimental evidence from the domain of color perception is presented for a version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that is considerably weaker than the version usually proposed.