Media Distribution in a Pervasive Computing Environment

Distribution of media in the fast growing world of digital stored content and multimedia supporting devices with connectivity, calls for a new media distribution architecture. The user should be provided with the experience of having an overview of his full media collection, regardless of the time, the place, and the connectivity. Transparent distributed data management is crucial to Ambient Intelligent applications. The proposed media distribution architecture offers a possible solution. It provides the user with the experience of having all his media collections available at any time, in any place, and managing them regardless of connection availability in the heterogeneous environment. This experience is enabled in our system by the separation of metadata and content handling. Other features are efficient handling of snapshots, usage of various database technologies, and leveraging device and service discovery mechanisms

Dense multipath component polarization and wall attenuation at 1.35 GHz in an office environment

This paper presents an analysis of dense multipath components in office meeting rooms. Radio channel sounding measurements at 1.35 GHz were performed with transmitter and receiver in the same room (intra-room) and in adjacent rooms (inter-room). Specular and dense multipath components were estimated with the RiMAX maximum-likelihood algorithm. The dense multipath reverberation characteristics were found to be not significantly different between polarization subchannels for both the intra-room and the inter-room channels, supporting the validity of a scalar dense multipath model. The specular and dense multipath wall attenuation losses were found to be 12.0 and 5.4 dB, respectively

Bone mineral density and fractures in institutionalised children with epilepsy and intellectual disability

Background Long-term use of antiseizure drugs is associated with a low bone mineral density (BMD) and an increased fracture risk. The literature regarding institutionalised children on chronic antiseizure drugs is limited. Therefore, the aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the prevalence of low BMD and the history of fractures in institutionalised children with epilepsy and intellectual disability (ID). Methods A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry of lumbar spine (L1-L4) and hip was performed in 24 children, residing in a long-stay care facility in the Netherlands. Additionally, serum concentrations of albumin, calcium and 25-hydroxyvitamin D were determined. Data on fractures were retrospectively extracted from the medical files. Results Ages of the children (14 male and 10 female) ranged from 5 to 17 years with a mean age of 13.0 (+/- 3.2). The criteria of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) were used for classification of bone mineral disorders. Eight (33.3%) children had a normal BMD (Z-score > - 2.0). Of the 16 children with a low BMD (Z-score <= - 2.0), three were diagnosed as osteoporotic, based on their fracture history. Ten children (41.7%) were reported to have at least one fracture in their medical history. Serum concentrations of albumin-corrected calcium (2.28-2.50 mmol/L) and (supplemented) vitamin D (16-137 nmol/L) were within the normal range. Conclusions This study demonstrated that 67% of institutionalised children with epilepsy and ID had low BMD and 42% had a history of at least one fracture, despite supplementation of calcium and vitamin D in accordance with the Dutch guidelines

Bayesian evaluation of three serological tests for the diagnosis of bovine brucellosis in Bangladesh

We evaluated the performance of three serological tests – an immunoglobulin G indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA), a Rose Bengal test and a slow agglutination test (SAT) – for the diagnosis of bovine brucellosis in Bangladesh. Cattle sera (n = 1360) sourced from Mymensingh district (MD) and a Government owned dairy farm (GF) were tested in parallel. We used a Bayesian latent class model that adjusted for the conditional dependence among the three tests and assumed constant diagnostic accuracy of the three tests in both populations. The sensitivity and specificity of the three tests varied from 84.6% to 93.7%, respectively. The true prevalences of bovine brucellosis in MD and the GF were 0.6% and 20.4%, respectively. Parallel interpretation of iELISA and SAT yielded the highest negative predictive values: 99.9% in MD and 99.6% in the GF; whereas serial interpretation of both iELISA and SAT produced the highest positive predictive value (PPV): 99.9% in the GF and also high PPV (98.9%) in MD. We recommend the use of both iELISA and SAT together and serial interpretation for culling and parallel interpretation for import decisions. Removal of brucellosis positive cattle will contribute to the control of brucellosis as a public health risk in Bangladesh