This paper presents an efficient spatial indexing technique for content-based image retrieval. Spatial index is generated based upon a fast and robust clustering technique, which can recognize color clusters of any shape. It also exploits entropy measure to decide whether quantization is needed before clustering. Based on experimentation, the performance of the new indexing technique has been f...

The critical nitrogen (N) dilution curve is a suitable analytical tool for in-season estimation of N status to implement precision N management. This study was undertaken for a comprehensive comparison of N dilution curves in Japonica and Indica rice to investigate, whether a single curve can be used for both rice ecotypes and to determine the most robust plant index for assessing N status in r...

BACKGROUND Evidence-based medicine requires new skills of physicians, including literature searching. OBJECTIVE To determine which literature retrieving method is most effective for GPs: the printed Index Medicus; Medline through Grateful Med; or Medline on CD-ROM. METHODS The design was a randomized comparative study. In a continuing medical education course, three groups of health care pr...

in recent years, the debate over the environmental sustainability of agricultural productions is widely increased. in this context, environmental impacts of potato production by semi-mechanized method were studied in markazi province of iran. in this research, life cycle assessment approach was used to identify and reduce environmental impacts. the environmental impacts of potato production in ...

gibbs and martin build on durkheim’s view that the degree of social integration is inversely related to the rate of suicide. according to gibbs and martin, which is expressed in terms of five axioms, the rate of suicide is a function of the degree of status integration in a society. this theory has been extensively subjected to experimental studies, which have supported its axioms. most of thes...

This paper presents two methods for accurately computing the periodic regions’ centers. One method fits for the general M-sets with integer index number, the other fits for the general Msets with negative integer index number. Both methods improve the precision of computation by transforming the polynomial equations which determine the periodic regions’ centers. We primarily discuss the general...

In the WMAP era of high precision cosmology an accurate determination of the matter power spectrum from Lyman-α forest data becomes crucial. When combining the matter power spectrum derived from CMB experiments with that inferred from Lyman-α absorption an evidence for a running spectral index and a primordial index n < 1 arises (Verde et al. 2003). In this talk, I will describe some results ob...

We describe the University of Amsterdam’s participation in the INEX 2006 Adhoc Track. We participated in all four Adhoc Track tasks, and report initial findings based on a single set of measure for all four tasks. Our main findings are the following. First, a complete element index outperforms a restricted index based on section-structure, albeit the differences are small. Second, grouping elem...

Metaphor is a pervasive feature of human language that enables us to conceptualize and communicate abstract concepts using more concrete terminology. Unfortunately, it is also a feature that serves to confound a computer’s ability to comprehend natural human language. We present a method to detect linguistic metaphors by inducing a domainaware semantic signature for a given text and compare thi...