Shared visiting in Equator city

In this paper we describe an infrastructure and prototype system for sharing of visiting experiences across multiple media. The prototype supports synchronous co-visiting by physical and digital visitors, with digital access via either the World Wide Web or 3-dimensional graphics

Contexts of diffusion: Adoption of research synthesis in Social Work and Women's Studies

Texts reveal the subjects of interest in research fields, and the values, beliefs, and practices of researchers. In this study, texts are examined through bibliometric mapping and topic modeling to provide a birds eye view of the social dynamics associated with the diffusion of research synthesis methods in the contexts of Social Work and Women's Studies. Research synthesis texts are especially revealing because the methods, which include meta-analysis and systematic review, are reliant on the availability of past research and data, sometimes idealized as objective, egalitarian approaches to research evaluation, fundamentally tied to past research practices, and performed with the goal informing future research and practice. This study highlights the co-influence of past and subsequent research within research fields; illustrates dynamics of the diffusion process; and provides insight into the cultural contexts of research in Social Work and Women's Studies. This study suggests the potential to further develop bibliometric mapping and topic modeling techniques to inform research problem selection and resource allocation.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction (SBP2014

Research ethics committees: agents of research policy?

The purpose of this commentary is to describe the unintended effects ethics committees may have on research and to analyse the regulatory and administrative problems of clinical trials. DISCUSSION: The Finnish law makes an arbitrary distinction between medical research and other health research, and the European Union's directive for good clinical trials further differentiates drug trials. The starting point of current rules is that clinical trials are lesser in the interest of patients and society than routine health care. However, commercial interests are not considered unethical. The contrasting procedures in research and normal health care may tempt physicians to continue introducing innovations into practice by relying on unsystematic and uncontrolled observations. Tedious and bureaucratic rules may lead to the disappearance of trials initiated by researchers. Trying to accommodate the special legislative requirements for new drug trials into more complex interventions may result in poor designs with unreliable results and increased costs. Meanwhile, current legal requirements may undermine the morale of ethics committee members. CONCLUSION: The aims and the quality of the work of ethics committees should be evaluated, and a reformulation of the EU directive on good clinical trials is needed. Ethical judgement should consider the specific circumstance of each trial, and ethics committees should not foster poor research for legal reasons

Simplifying Algebra in Feynman Graphs, Part III: Massive Vectors

A T-dualized selfdual inspired formulation of massive vector fields coupled to arbitrary matter is generated; subsequently its perturbative series modeling a spontaneously broken gauge theory is analyzed. The new Feynman rules and external line factors are chirally minimized in the sense that only one type of spin index occurs in the rules. Several processes are examined in detail and the cross-sections formulated in this approach. A double line formulation of the Lorentz algebra for Feynman diagrams is produced in this formalism, similar to color ordering, which follows from a spin ordering of the Feynman rules. The new double line formalism leads to further minimization of gauge invariant scattering in perturbation theory. The dualized electroweak model is also generated.Comment: 39 pages, LaTeX, 8 figure

Exploring the challenge of health research priority setting in partnership: reflections on the methodology used by the James Lind Alliance Pressure Ulcer Priority Setting Partnership

Background: Studies identifying a mismatch between the priorities of academics and clinicians and those of people with direct experience of a health condition pose a challenge to the assumption that professional researchers can represent the interests of patients and the public in setting priorities for health research. The James Lind Alliance (JLA) brings patients, carers and clinicians together in Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) to identify and prioritise shared uncertainties about the effects of treatment. There is no formal evaluation yet to examine the different approaches used by individual PSPs and the impact these methods have on the quality of the partnership and subsequent outputs. There is no gold standard method for health research topic identification and priority setting and reporting on public involvement in this area is predominantly descriptive rather than evaluative. Methods and Findings: The JLA Pressure Ulcer PSP (JLAPUP) was developed and worked between 2009 and 2013 to identify and prioritise the top 10 ‘uncertainties’, or ‘unanswered questions’, about the effects of pressure ulcer interventions. JLAPUP identified a mismatch between the nature and quality of RCTs in pressure ulcer prevention and treatment and the kind of research evidence desired by patients or service users, carers and health professionals. Results and methods have been reported fully elsewhere. The consultative and deliberative methods used to establish health research priorities in PSPs are fundamentally interpretive. PSPs are therefore an arena in which ‘hard’ evidence-informed ideals meet ‘soft’ participatory practices. This article provides an account of the challenges faced in one particular PSP. We explain the rationale for the approaches taken, difficulties faced and the limitations at each stage, because these aspects are particularly under-reported. The JLAPUP case is used to identify possible areas for evaluation and reporting across PSPs. Conclusion: Engaging people with very different health and life experiences in the complexities of health science based discussions of uncertainty is challenging. This is particularly the case when engaging groups routinely excluded from participating in health research, for example, older people with multiple comorbidities. The JLA principles of transparency, inclusivity and avoiding waste in research require paying close critical attention to PSP methodology, including full evaluation and reporting of PSP processes and outcomes. Assessing the impact of PSPs is contingent on the decision making processes of commissioners and funders

Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who's listening?

The biomedical research complex has been estimated to consume almost a quarter of a trillion US dollars every year. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that a high proportion of this sum is avoidably wasted. In 2014, The Lancet published a series of five reviews showing how dividends from the investment in research might be increased from the relevance and priorities of the questions being asked, to how the research is designed, conducted, and reported. 17 recommendations were addressed to five main stakeholders-funders, regulators, journals, academic institutions, and researchers. This Review provides some initial observations on the possible effects of the Series, which seems to have provoked several important discussions and is on the agendas of several key players. Some examples of individual initiatives show ways to reduce waste and increase value in biomedical research. This momentum will probably move strongly across stakeholder groups, if collaborative relationships evolve between key players; further important work is needed to increase research value. A forthcoming meeting in Edinburgh, UK, will provide an initial forum within which to foster the collaboration neede

Ultra-low noise, bi-polar, programmable current sources

We present the design process and implementation of fully open-source, ultra-low noise programmable current source systems in two configurations. Although originally designed as coil drivers for Optically Pumped Magnetometers (OPMs), the device specifications make them potentially useful in a range of applications. The devices feature a bi-directional current range of $\pm$~10~mA and $\pm$~250~mA respectively on three independent channels with 16-bit resolution. Both devices feature narrow 1/f noise bandwidth of 1~Hz, enabling magnetic field manipulation for high-performance OPMs. They exhibit low noise of 146.3~pA/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and 4114~pA/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ which translates to 14.57~ppb/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and 16.46~ppb/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ noise relative to full scale.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

An adaptive technique for content-based image retrieval

We discuss an adaptive approach towards Content-Based Image Retrieval. It is based on the Ostensive Model of developing information needs—a special kind of relevance feedback model that learns from implicit user feedback and adds a temporal notion to relevance. The ostensive approach supports content-assisted browsing through visualising the interaction by adding user-selected images to a browsing path, which ends with a set of system recommendations. The suggestions are based on an adaptive query learning scheme, in which the query is learnt from previously selected images. Our approach is an adaptation of the original Ostensive Model based on textual features only, to include content-based features to characterise images. In the proposed scheme textual and colour features are combined using the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence combination. Results from a user-centred, work-task oriented evaluation show that the ostensive interface is preferred over a traditional interface with manual query facilities. This is due to its ability to adapt to the user's need, its intuitiveness and the fluid way in which it operates. Studying and comparing the nature of the underlying information need, it emerges that our approach elicits changes in the user's need based on the interaction, and is successful in adapting the retrieval to match the changes. In addition, a preliminary study of the retrieval performance of the ostensive relevance feedback scheme shows that it can outperform a standard relevance feedback strategy in terms of image recall in category search

Patients’ understandings about cellulitis and views about how best to prevent recurrent episodes: mixed methods study in primary and secondary care

BackgroundCellulitis is a common painful infection of the skin and underlying tissues that recurs in approximately a third of cases. The only proven strategy to reduce the risk of recurrence is long‐term, low‐dose antibiotics. Given current concerns about antibiotic resistance and the pressure to reduce antibiotic prescribing, other prevention strategies are needed.ObjectivesTo explore patients’ views about cellulitis and different ways of preventing recurrent episodes.MethodsAdults aged 18 or over with a history of first episode or recurrent cellulitis were invited through primary care, hospitals and advertising to complete a survey, take part in an interview, or both.ResultsThirty interviews were conducted between August 2016 and July 2017. Two hundred and forty surveys were completed (response rate 17%). Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data showed that people who have had cellulitis have wide‐ranging beliefs about what can cause cellulitis and are often unaware of risk of recurrence or potential strategies to prevent recurrence. Enhanced foot hygiene, applying emollients daily, exercise and losing weight were more popular potential strategies than use of compression stockings or long‐term antibiotics. Participants expressed caution about long‐term oral antibiotics, particularly those who had experienced only one episode of cellulitis.ConclusionsPeople who have had cellulitis are keen to know about possible ways to prevent further episodes. Enhanced foot hygiene, applying emollients daily, exercise and losing weight were generally viewed to be more acceptable, feasible strategies than compression or antibiotics, but further research is needed to explore uptake and effectiveness in practice