1,344 research outputs found

    Geology of the Northern End of San Pedro Mountain, Rio Arriba and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico

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    The structural complexity of this area provided the initial stimulus for this study. With encouragement from Dr. Vincent C. Kelley, the study of this area was undertaken as a master\u27s thesis project. The field work necessary to the project was begun in February, 1957 and completed during the summer of 1957. Mapping was accomplished with the aid of aerial photographs scaled two inches equals one mile. Data were transferred from photographs to a U.S. Soil Conservation Service planimetric map. Strati graphic sections were measured with Brunton compass and a 50-foot steel tape

    Streaming Video over HTTP with Consistent Quality

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    In conventional HTTP-based adaptive streaming (HAS), a video source is encoded at multiple levels of constant bitrate representations, and a client makes its representation selections according to the measured network bandwidth. While greatly simplifying adaptation to the varying network conditions, this strategy is not the best for optimizing the video quality experienced by end users. Quality fluctuation can be reduced if the natural variability of video content is taken into consideration. In this work, we study the design of a client rate adaptation algorithm to yield consistent video quality. We assume that clients have visibility into incoming video within a finite horizon. We also take advantage of the client-side video buffer, by using it as a breathing room for not only network bandwidth variability, but also video bitrate variability. The challenge, however, lies in how to balance these two variabilities to yield consistent video quality without risking a buffer underrun. We propose an optimization solution that uses an online algorithm to adapt the video bitrate step-by-step, while applying dynamic programming at each step. We incorporate our solution into PANDA -- a practical rate adaptation algorithm designed for HAS deployment at scale.Comment: Refined version submitted to ACM Multimedia Systems Conference (MMSys), 201

    A survey of hospital outpatient services for chronic diseases in Gauteng

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    Objectives. The rapid evaluation of hospital-based services for chronic non-communicable diseases, in particular aspects of the organisation of services, and indirect indicators of patient care.Design. A postal survey of services for asthma, epilepsy, diabetes and hypertension at nine hospitals. Assessment over 1 week of single blood pressure (BP) and blood glucose readings at the hypertension and diabetes clinics at one regional hospital.Setting. Nine community and secondary hospitals in Gauteng.Results. Eight hospitals responded. Most did not provide specific clinics for each condition. None of the professional staff had received additional training in chronic disease management, and 7 considered their services to be understaffed. On average, nurses managed 33 patients per day (range 19 - 50), and doctors 53 (20 - 80). Mean consultation time was 9 minutes (4 - 20 minutes). Management guidelines were used for all conditions in 5 hospitals. Modem routine assessments were seldom employed. Estimates of regular patient attendance ranged from 25% to 75%. At the single hospital surveyed, hypertension (N = 233) was controlled in 42.5% of patients using World Health Organisation criteria (BP < 160/95), but in only 24.5% of patients by The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC6) standards (BP < 140/90). Random blood glucose was satisfactory (< 10 mmol/l) in 45.2% of diabetic patients (N = 157) while hypertension (N = 100) was well controlled (< 140/90) in 10% of hypertensive diabetic patients.Conclusions. Services for chronic diseases at non-academic hospitals in Gauteng were characterised by perceived inadequate staff numbers and training, short consultation times, infrequent use of management guidelines and standard assessments, little patient education with regard to self care, and perceived low rates of regular attendance (and hence compliance with medication). At one hospital there was a low rate of hypertension control, and unsatisfactory rates of acceptable glycaemic and BP control among diabetic patients. There is an urgent need for restructuring of services for chronic diseases and for more detailed outcomes research

    Challenges and complexity in human rights education: teachers’ understandings of democratic participation and gender equity in post-conflict Kurdistan-Iraq

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    This paper examines tensions in implementing human rights education (HRE) in schools in Kurdistan-Iraq, both for teachers and for policy-makers, juggling nation-building and its application through schooling and child rights. We draw on documentary sources and fieldwork in two governorates, including classroom observations and interviews with education professionals. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child confirms the right to HRE, including learning to live together, stressing gender equity. In practice, rights operate in tension and may be denied in societal contexts where conservative, patriarchal values prevail. We report on teachers’ attempts to reconcile tensions while facing limited resources. HRE is often perceived as low-status and taught without adequate consideration of everyday rights denials. Nevertheless, HRE is fundamental to democratic development and social justice and can equip citizens with skills and attitudes for a cosmopolitan worldview and peaceful development. Potentially, HRE can contribute to learners’ self-empowerment and gender equity

    Increased gravitational force reveals the mechanical, resonant nature of physiological tremor

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    Human physiological hand tremor has a resonant component. Proof of this is that its frequency can be modified by adding mass. However, adding mass also increases the load which must be supported. The necessary force requires muscular contraction which will change motor output and is likely to increase limb stiffness. The increased stiffness will partly offset the effect of the increased mass and this can lead to the erroneous conclusion that factors other than resonance are involved in determining tremor frequency. Using a human centrifuge to increase head-to-foot gravitational field strength, we were able to control for the increased effort by increasing force without changing mass. This revealed that the peak frequency of human hand tremor is 99% predictable on the basis of a resonant mechanism. We ask what, if anything, the peak frequency of physiological tremor can reveal about the operation of the nervous system.This work was funded by a BBSRC Industry Interchange Award to J.P.R.S. and R.F.R. C.J.O. was funded by BBSRC grant BB/I00579X/1. C.A.V. was funded by A∗Midex (Aix-Marseille Initiative of Excellence

    Managed moves: schools collaborating for collective gain

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    Government guidance in the United Kingdom encourages groups of schools to take collective responsibility for supporting and making provision for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. Managed-moves are one way that some schools and authorities are enacting such guidance. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of one such scheme. The scheme, involving seven neighbouring secondary schools, was nearing its first year of completion. The paper draws primarily on interview data with pupils, parents and school staff to describe a number of positive outcomes associated with the scheme and to explore how these were achieved. We found that while some of these could be attributed directly to the managed-move, others arose from the more inclusive ethos and practices of particular schools. The concepts of tailored support, care and commitment emerged as strong themes that underpinned the various practical ways in which some schools in the cluster were able to re-engage 'at-risk' pupils. As managed moves become more widely practiced it will be important to remember that it is how the move proceeds and develops rather than the move itself that will ultimately make the difference for troubled and troublesome pupils

    Synthesis and Stereochemical Assignment of (+)-Chamuvarinin

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    Supported by grants from EPSRC (EP/F011458/1) and The Wellcome Trust (086658).A stereocontrolled total synthesis of (+)-chamuvarinin, isolated from the root extract of Uvaria Chamae, utilizes a convergent modular strategy to construct the adjacently linked C15−C28 ether array, followed by a late-stage Julia−Kocienski olefination to append the butenolide motif. This constitutes the first total synthesis of (+)-chamuvarinin, defining the relative and absolute configuration of this unique annonaceous acetogenin.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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