Multimedia Chinese Web Search Engines: A Survey

The objective of this paper is to explore the state of multimedia search functionality on major general and dedicated Web search engines in Chinese language. The authors studied: a) how many Chinese Web search engines presently make use of multimedia searching, and b) the type of multimedia search functionality available. Specifically, the following were examined: a) multimedia features - features allowing multimedia search; and b) extent of personalization - the extent to which a search engine Web site allows users to control multimedia search. Overall, Chinese Web search engines offer limited multimedia searching functionality. The significance of the study is based on two factors: a) little research has been conducted on Chinese Web search engines, and b) the instrument used in the study and the results obtained by this research could help users, Web designers, and Web search engine developers. By large, general Web search engines support more multimedia features than specialized one

What a Waste: Segregation and Sanitation in Brooklyn, New York in the post-WWII Era

Through studying the intersections of sanitation and segregation in Brooklyn, New York in the post-WWII era, this thesis reveals a web of willful white negligence that constructed a narrative that supports continued environmental injustices towards black Americans. As a result of housing discrimination, the lack of sanitation, and the political and social climate of the 1950s, black neighborhoods in Brooklyn became dirtier with abandoned garbage. Institutional anti-black racism not only permitted and supported the degradation of black neighborhoods, but also created an association between black Americans and trash. In the present day, this narrative not only leads to the increased segregation of black Americans into dirty neighborhoods, but also justifies more environmental injustice in these vulnerable communities. Based on a case study of Brooklyn in the 1950s, this thesis asserts that environmental injustices are more than just siting landfills and toxic sites proximate to vulnerable neighborhoods, but rather they are dependent on the creation and preservation of narratives that claim minority communities are naturally predisposed to or deserving of living in dirty and unclean places

Challenges in Advanced Dementia

This chapter presents the significant challenges in practice health professionals face in providing care to people with advanced dementia. These challenges constitute all facets of care giving inclusive of physical, psychological and spiritual care. Worldwide advanced dementia is an increasingly burdensome health issue. People with advanced dementia have substantial care needs at the end of their life. The Alzheimer's Disease International report (2010) stated there were 35.6 million people living with dementia. The report estimates the number of people living with dementia worldwide will increase to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050. Further the majority of people will live in low and middle income countries. In 2010, the financial burden of dementia was costed at US$ 604 billion. The Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2010 report predicts that “these costs account for around 1% of the world’s gross domestic product, varying from 0.24% in low income countries, to 0.35% in low, middle income countries, 0.50% in high, middle income countries, and 1.24% in high income countries”. A high proportion of people with dementia need some level of care to supplement their cognitive decline. This care can range from minimal support of individual activities for example, shopping to a full range of personal care. As the person declines and the disease progresses total supervision necessitating 24hr care across 7 days per week, of all activities of daily living, is required. The Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2010 report states that the cost of informal care (unpaid) provided by families and the direct costs of care by health professionals in residential aged care facilities, equates to being the world’s 18th largest economy. Evidence also suggests that a lack of training, education and support for both health professionals and informal caregivers is still present. Thus the challenges before the community are significant and need to be responded to in a planned, informed and educated manner so that people dying from dementia can be the recipients of quality care at the end of their life

An ecosystem approach to knowledge management: Case studies of two Australian SMEs

This study is centred on the premise that knowledge is personalised information which can be enriched through the process of learning, then shared and applied to practical situations to attain value. To highlight the complex nature of knowledge management (KM) as a set of practices and aimed to enhance collaboration, the concept of a Collaborative Leaning Ecosystem (CLES) is presented as holistic approach toward improving practical learning environments. In view of the pressing need for better KM in small-to-medium (SME) enterprises, the CLES framework is used to examine the KM positions of two Australian SMEs. Viewing each case as an 'organisational ecosystem', the holistic assessment of each SME exposes certain KM inefficiencies unique to the firm, which are addressed through a set of actionable KM strategies for improving the relationships among the components interacting within each organisational ecosystem

A comparison of statistical and machine learning methods for creating national daily maps of ambient PM2.5_{2.5} concentration

A typical problem in air pollution epidemiology is exposure assessment for individuals for which health data are available. Due to the sparsity of monitoring sites and the limited temporal frequency with which measurements of air pollutants concentrations are collected (for most pollutants, once every 3 or 6 days), epidemiologists have been moving away from characterizing ambient air pollution exposure solely using measurements. In the last few years, substantial research efforts have been placed in developing statistical methods or machine learning techniques to generate estimates of air pollution at finer spatial and temporal scales (daily, usually) with complete coverage. Some of these methods include: geostatistical techniques, such as kriging; spatial statistical models that use the information contained in air quality model outputs (statistical downscaling models); linear regression modeling approaches that leverage the information in GIS covariates (land use regression); or machine learning methods that mine the information contained in relevant variables (neural network and deep learning approaches). Although some of these exposure modeling approaches have been used in several air pollution epidemiological studies, it is not clear how much the predicted exposures generated by these methods differ, and which method generates more reliable estimates. In this paper, we aim to address this gap by evaluating a variety of exposure modeling approaches, comparing their predictive performance and computational difficulty. Using PM$_{2.5}$ in year 2011 over the continental U.S. as case study, we examine the methods' performances across seasons, rural vs urban settings, and levels of PM$_{2.5}$ concentrations (low, medium, high)

Variable Classifications of Glycemic Index Determined by Glucose Meters

The study evaluated and compared the differences of glucose responses, incremental area under curve (IAUC), glycemic index (GI) and the classification of GI values between measured by biochemical analyzer (Fuji automatic biochemistry analyzer (FAA)) and three glucose meters: Accue Chek Advantage (AGM), BREEZE 2 (BGM), and Optimum Xceed (OGM). Ten healthy subjects were recruited for the study. The results showed OGM yield highest postprandial glucose responses of 119.6 ± 1.5, followed by FAA, 118.4 ± 1.2, BGM, 117.4 ± 1.4 and AGM, 112.6 ± 1.3 mg/dl respectively. FAA reached highest mean IAUC of 4156 ± 208 mg × min/dl, followed by OGM (3835 ± 270 mg × min/dl), BGM (3730 ± 241 mg × min/dl) and AGM (3394 ± 253 mg × min/dl). Among four methods, OGM produced highest mean GI value than FAA (87 ± 5) than FAA, followed by BGM and AGM (77 ± 1, 68 ± 4 and 63 ± 5, p<0.05). The results suggested that the AGM, BGM and OGM are more variable methods to determine IAUC, GI and rank GI value of food than FAA. The present result does not necessarily apply to other glucose meters. The performance of glucose meter to determine GI value of food should be evaluated and calibrated before use

The Corrugated Edge

Today multi-family housing is developed through a spreadsheet mentality geared toward satisfying investors and banks, producing a limited set of options for families who want to live in the center of the city. By bringing back a spatial model for the design and development of housing, architecture is a key player in producing dense urban environments that are spatially-rich, and invested in their urban locales, resonating with middle-income families. The Corrugated Edge is the best spatial model for producing housing that is affordable and spatially rich

Overcoming the challenges of cancer drug resistance through bacterial-mediated therapy.

Despite tremendous efforts to fight cancer, it remains a major public health problem and a leading cause of death worldwide. With increased knowledge of cancer pathways and improved technological platforms, precision therapeutics that specifically target aberrant cancer pathways have improved patient outcomes. Nevertheless, a primary cause of unsuccessful cancer therapy remains cancer drug resistance. In this review, we summarize the broad classes of resistance to cancer therapy, particularly pharmacokinetics, the tumor microenvironment, and drug resistance mechanisms. Furthermore, we describe how bacterial-mediated cancer therapy, a bygone mode of treatment, has been revitalized by synthetic biology and is uniquely suited to address the primary resistance mechanisms that confound traditional therapies. Through genetic engineering, we discuss how bacteria can be potent anticancer agents given their tumor targeting potential, anti-tumor activity, safety, and coordinated delivery of anti-cancer drugs