250 research outputs found

    The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology

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    This paper proposes an alternative approach to the design of universally accessible interfaces to that provided by formal design frameworks applied ab initio to the development of new software. This approach, design-byadaptation, involves the transfer of interface technology and/or design principles from one application domain to another, in situations where the recipient domain is similar to the host domain in terms of modelled systems, tasks and users. Using the example of interaction in 3D virtual environments, the paper explores how principles underlying the design of videogame interfaces may be applied to a broad family of visualization and analysis software which handles geographical data (virtual geographic environments, or VGEs). One of the motivations behind the current study is that VGE technology lags some way behind videogame technology in the modelling of 3D environments, and has a less-developed track record in providing the variety of interaction methods needed to undertake varied tasks in 3D virtual worlds by users with varied levels of experience. The current analysis extracted a set of interaction principles from videogames which were used to devise a set of 3D task interfaces that have been implemented in a prototype VGE for formal evaluation

    Permeation of macromolecules into the renal glomerular basement membrane and capture by the tubules

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    Human kidneys contain ∼2 x 106 glomeruli that produce ∼180 L per day of primary filtrate. Downstream tubules reabsorb most of the water, salt, and desirable low-molecular weight substances, leaving 1 to 2 L per day of urine containing undesirable waste products. Currently, most investigators think that the primary filtrate is low in protein because fluid exiting the glomerulus passes through slits spanned by a diaphragm that acts as a low-porosity molecular sieve. Our experiments challenge this view; they show that size-dependent permeation into the glomerular basement membrane and into a gel-like coat that covers the slits, together with saturable tubular reabsorption, determines which macromolecules reach the urine. The slit diaphragm is essential for capillary structure but may not directly determine glomerular size selectivity

    Ogni Pensiero Vola: the embodied psyche in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life

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    The Tree of Lifetouches on embodiment of the soul in an early sequence covering courtship, marriage and the first pregnancy of a young couple. In a delicate formal scene, Mrs O'Brien, nearing full term, treads gently along a river's edge summoning infant souls luminous in white linen. She opens a minute book of life to one of them, preparing his entry through the iron gates that open on embodied life. Presently, the infant soul rises up from his underwater home beyond the reach of conscious awareness: Mrs O'Brien gives birth to her first son, Jack. This is the boy who will eventually become a middle-aged man in crisis. Ravaged then by grief for his long-dead younger brother and his own inability to live at peace with his family or himself, his memories, visions and reflections accumulate in a way that makes him a suffering Hermes for the early twenty-first century. The initiating episode of the infant's birth complements the embodied and affective experiences of those in the audience who accept the film's sensual invitation to steep themselves in the immense scale of its gorgeous sounds and images. They then discover on the pulse that, more than the history of one Texan family, it attempts nothing less than the necessary re-creation of the godhead for the early twenty-first century. Contrary to the rigid medieval dogmas of so many orthodox religions,The Tree of Lifeassures us not of a changeless eternity but rather the sacred and ceaseless metamorphosis of numinous energy

    The core-edge integrated neon-seeded scenario in deuterium-tritium at JET

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    This paper reports the first experiment carried out in deuterium-tritium addressing the integration of a radiative divertor for heat-load control with good confinement. Neon seeding was carried out for the first time in a D-T plasma as part of the second D-T campaign of JET with its Be/W wall environment. The technical difficulties linked to the re-ionisation heat load are reported in T and D-T. This paper compares the impact of neon seeding on D-T plasmas and their D counterpart on the divertor detachment, localisation of the radiation, scrape-off profiles, pedestal structure, edge localised modes and global confinement

    Outbreak Response and Incident Management: SHEA Guidance and Resources for Healthcare Epidemiologists in United States Acute-Care Hospitals.

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    This expert guidance document was developed as a resource to provide healthcare epidemiologists working in acute-care hospitals with a high-level overview of incident management for infectious diseases outbreaks and to prepare them to work within an emergency response framework. It addresses how the epidemiologist’s skills and expertise apply to scenarios that require enhanced preparedness and response efforts, eg, when pathogens associated with outbreaks are poorly characterized or when outbreaks require additional interventions including, but not limited to, healthcare personnel education, enhanced infection prevention and control measures, added staffing, supplies, and resources, adjustments to clinical and support activities, and external communications. Its recommendations are not pathogen-specific and are meant to apply to a range of potential infectious diseases outbreaks. To provide high-level guidance and context for incident management, the authors specify recommendations for the healthcare epidemiologist, as well as involvement and responsibilities of the facility and other healthcare personnel (HCP)

    The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting

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    Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic dueto their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcomethis challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic Europeancontexts, predominantly dating fromca3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results showhigh numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena  glacialis)) andgrey whale (Eschrichtius  robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern NorthAtlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic rightwhales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in theEuropean zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated withmediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans,Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that earlywhaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbersof other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depletedwhales were once those most frequently used.Archaeological Heritage Managemen

    Echocardiographic prediction of outcome after cardiac resynchronization therapy: conventional methods and recent developments

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    Echocardiography plays an important role in patient assessment before cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and can monitor many of its mechanical effects in heart failure patients. Encouraged by the highly variable individual response observed in the major CRT trials, echocardiography-based measurements of mechanical dyssynchrony have been extensively investigated with the aim of improving response prediction and CRT delivery. Despite recent setbacks, these techniques have continued to develop in order to overcome some of their initial flaws and limitations. This review discusses the concepts and rationale of the available echocardiographic techniques, highlighting newer quantification methods and discussing some of the unsolved issues that need to be addressed

    Great Lake Review Fall 1979 Volume 9

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    Great Lake Review is SUNY Oswego's student-edited literary and art magazine. Great Lake Review is published, in general, every semester, and contains primarily student art work, poetry, fiction, and other literary works.SUNY Oswego Student Associatio
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