MScMS-II: an innovative IR-based indoor coordinate measuring system for large-scale metrology applications

According to the current great interest concerning large-scale metrology applications in many different fields of manufacturing industry, technologies and techniques for dimensional measurement have recently shown a substantial improvement. Ease-of-use, logistic and economic issues, as well as metrological performance are assuming a more and more important role among system requirements. This paper describes the architecture and the working principles of a novel infrared (IR) optical-based system, designed to perform low-cost and easy indoor coordinate measurements of large-size objects. The system consists of a distributed network-based layout, whose modularity allows fitting differently sized and shaped working volumes by adequately increasing the number of sensing units. Differently from existing spatially distributed metrological instruments, the remote sensor devices are intended to provide embedded data elaboration capabilities, in order to share the overall computational load. The overall system functionalities, including distributed layout configuration, network self-calibration, 3D point localization, and measurement data elaboration, are discussed. A preliminary metrological characterization of system performance, based on experimental testing, is also presente

Methodological criteria for the assessment of moderators in systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials : a consensus study

Background: Current methodological guidelines provide advice about the assessment of sub-group analysis within RCTs, but do not specify explicit criteria for assessment. Our objective was to provide researchers with a set of criteria that will facilitate the grading of evidence for moderators, in systematic reviews. Method: We developed a set of criteria from methodological manuscripts (n = 18) using snowballing technique, and electronic database searches. Criteria were reviewed by an international Delphi panel (n = 21), comprising authors who have published methodological papers in this area, and researchers who have been active in the study of sub-group analysis in RCTs. We used the Research ANd Development/University of California Los Angeles appropriateness method to assess consensus on the quantitative data. Free responses were coded for consensus and disagreement. In a subsequent round additional criteria were extracted from the Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook, and the process was repeated. Results: The recommendations are that meta-analysts report both confirmatory and exploratory findings for subgroups analysis. Confirmatory findings must only come from studies in which a specific theory/evidence based apriori statement is made. Exploratory findings may be used to inform future/subsequent trials. However, for inclusion in the meta-analysis of moderators, the following additional criteria should be applied to each study: Baseline factors should be measured prior to randomisation, measurement of baseline factors should be of adequate reliability and validity, and a specific test of the interaction between baseline factors and interventions must be presented. Conclusions: There is consensus from a group of 21 international experts that methodological criteria to assess moderators within systematic reviews of RCTs is both timely and necessary. The consensus from the experts resulted in five criteria divided into two groups when synthesising evidence: confirmatory findings to support hypotheses about moderators and exploratory findings to inform future research. These recommendations are discussed in reference to previous recommendations for evaluating and reporting moderator studies

The role of statins in prevention and treatment of community acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that statins may reduce the risk of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and its complications. PURPOSE: Performed a systematic review to address the role of statins in the prevention or treatment of CAP. DATA SOURCE: Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus from inception through December 2011 were searched for randomized clinical trials, cohort and case-control studies. STUDY SELECTION: Two authors independently reviewed studies that examined the role of statins in CAP. DATA EXTRACTION: Data about study characteristics, adjusted effect-estimates and quality characteristics was extracted. DATA SYNTHESIS: Eighteen studies corresponding to 21 effect-estimates (eight and 13 of which addressed the preventive and therapeutic roles of statins, respectively) were included. All studies were of good methodological quality. Random-effects meta-analyses of adjusted effect-estimates were used. Statins were associated with a lower risk of CAP, 0.84 (95% CI, 0.74-0.95), I(2) = 90.5% and a lower short-term mortality in patients with CAP, 0.68 (95% CI, 0.59-0.78), I(2) = 75.7%. Meta-regression did not identify sources of heterogeneity. A funnel plot suggested publication bias in the treatment group, which was adjusted by a novel regression method with a resultant effect-estimate of 0.85 (95% CI, 0.77-0.93). Sensitivity analyses using the rule-out approach showed that it is unlikely that the results were due to an unmeasured confounder. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis reveals a beneficial role of statins for the risk of development and mortality associated with CAP. However, the results constitute very low quality evidence as per the GRADE framework due to observational study design, heterogeneity and publication bias

Consciousness and the Physical World

The main file in this deposition is a pdf file containing the scanned pages of the Proceedings. Additional files OCR.txt and OCR.pdf (the latter having the same pagination as the book) are included to simplify search, etc. Because of their automated creation using software, the accuracy of the OCR files cannot be guaranteed, though some checking has been carried out. In the scanned version, entering 'go to page n' in a pdf reader will access the pair of pages 2n and 2n+1. Alternatively, go to the contents pages (accessible via 'go to page', entering 'contents' at the prompt) for the numbers to use with 'go to' for specific chapters. © By arrangement with the publishers, the editors (Brian D Josephson and Vilayanur S Ramachandran) are the present copyright holders. They grant permission for the use of the material in this book in accord with the terms of the CC licence below.Edited proceedings of an interdisciplinary symposium on consciousness held at the University of Cambridge in January 1978. The purpose of the Cambridge conference was to encourage distinguished scientists to express their views on the relationship of conscious experience to the physical world.The conference was supported by a grant from Research Corporation of New York

Quantum physics meets biology

Quantum physics and biology have long been regarded as unrelated disciplines, describing nature at the inanimate microlevel on the one hand and living species on the other hand. Over the last decades the life sciences have succeeded in providing ever more and refined explanations of macroscopic phenomena that were based on an improved understanding of molecular structures and mechanisms. Simultaneously, quantum physics, originally rooted in a world view of quantum coherences, entanglement and other non-classical effects, has been heading towards systems of increasing complexity. The present perspective article shall serve as a pedestrian guide to the growing interconnections between the two fields. We recapitulate the generic and sometimes unintuitive characteristics of quantum physics and point to a number of applications in the life sciences. We discuss our criteria for a future quantum biology, its current status, recent experimental progress and also the restrictions that nature imposes on bold extrapolations of quantum theory to macroscopic phenomena.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, Perspective article for the HFSP Journa

On the well-posedness of uncalibrated photometric stereo under general lighting

Uncalibrated photometric stereo aims at estimating the 3D-shape of a surface, given a set of images captured from the same viewing angle, but under unknown, varying illumination. While the theoretical foundations of this inverse problem under directional lighting are well-established, there is a lack of mathematical evidence for the uniqueness of a solution under general lighting. On the other hand, stable and accurate heuristical solutions of uncalibrated photometric stereo under such general lighting have recently been proposed. The quality of the results demonstrated therein tends to indicate that the problem may actually be well-posed, but this still has to be established. The present paper addresses this theoretical issue, considering first-order spherical harmonics approximation of general lighting. Two important theoretical results are established. First, the orthographic integrability constraint ensures uniqueness of a solution up to a global concave-convex ambiguity , which had already been conjectured, yet not proven. Second, the perspective integrability constraint makes the problem well-posed, which generalizes a previous result limited to directional lighting. Eventually, a closed-form expression for the unique least-squares solution of the problem under perspective projection is provided , allowing numerical simulations on synthetic data to empirically validate our findings

Children in reviews: Methodological issues in child-relevant evidence syntheses

BACKGROUND: The delivery of optimal medical care to children is dependent on the availability of child relevant research. Our objectives were to: i) systematically review and describe how children are handled in reviews of drug interventions published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR); and ii) determine when effect sizes for the same drug interventions differ between children and adults. METHODS: We systematically identified all of the reviews relevant to child health in the CDSR 2002, Issue 4. Reviews were included if they investigated the efficacy or effectiveness of a drug intervention for a condition that occurs in both children and adults. Information was extracted on review characteristics including study methods, results, and conclusions. RESULTS: From 1496 systematic reviews, 408 (27%) were identified as relevant to both adult and child health; 52% (213) of these included data from children. No significant differences were found in effect sizes between adults and children for any of the drug interventions or conditions investigated. However, all of the comparisons lacked the power to detect a clinically significant difference and wide confidence intervals suggest important differences cannot be excluded. A large amount of data was unavailable due to inadequate reporting at the trial and systematic review level. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings of this study indicate there is a paucity of child-relevant and specific evidence generated from evidence syntheses of drug interventions. The results indicate a need for a higher standard of reporting for participant populations in studies of drug interventions

Neurobehavioral consequences of chronic intrauterine opioid exposure in infants and preschool children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<b>Background</b><p></p> It is assumed within the accumulated literature that children born of pregnant opioid dependent mothers have impaired neurobehavioral function as a consequence of chronic intrauterine opioid use.<p></p> <b>Methods</b><p></p> Quantitative and systematic review of the literature on the consequences of chronic maternal opioid use during pregnancy on neurobehavioral function of children was conducted using the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched Cinahl, EMBASE, PsychINFO and MEDLINE between the periods of January 1995 to January 2012.<p></p> <b>Results</b><p></p> There were only 5 studies out of the 200 identified that quantitatively reported on neurobehavioral function of children after maternal opioid use during pregnancy. All 5 were case control studies with the number of exposed subjects within the studies ranging from 33–143 and 45–85 for the controls. This meta-analysis showed no significant impairments, at a non-conservative significance level of p < 0.05, for cognitive, psychomotor or observed behavioural outcomes for chronic intra-uterine exposed infants and pre-school children compared to non-exposed infants and children. However, all domains suggested a trend to poor outcomes in infants/children of opioid using mothers. The magnitude of all possible effects was small according to Cohen’s benchmark criteria.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b><p></p> Chronic intra-uterine opioid exposed infants and pre-school children experienced no significant impairment in neurobehavioral outcomes when compared to non-exposed peers, although in all domains there was a trend to poorer outcomes. The findings of this review are limited by the small number of studies analysed, the heterogenous populations and small numbers within the individual studies. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if any neuropsychological impairments appear after the age of 5 years and to help investigate further the role of environmental risk factors on the effect of ‘core’ phenotypes

Syncopation and the Score

The first and second authors were supported by an EPSRC DTA (www.epsrc.ac.uk) studentship

Risk factor studies of age-at-onset in a sample ascertained for Parkinson disease affected sibling pairs: a cautionary tale

An association between exposure to a risk factor and age-at-onset of disease may reflect an effect on the rate of disease occurrence or an acceleration of the disease process. The difference in age-at-onset arising from case-only studies, however, may also reflect secular trends in the prevalence of exposure to the risk factor. Comparisons of age-at-onset associated with risk factors are commonly performed in case series enrolled for genetic linkage analysis of late onset diseases. We describe how the results of age-at-onset studies of environmental risk factors reflect the underlying structure of the source population, rather than an association with age-at-onset, by contrasting the effects of coffee drinking and cigarette smoking on Parkinson disease age-at-onset with the effects on age-at-enrollment in a population based study sample. Despite earlier evidence to suggest a protective association of coffee drinking and cigarette smoking with Parkinson disease risk, the age-at-onset results are comparable to the patterns observed in the population sample, and thus a causal inference from the age-at-onset effect may not be justified. Protective effects of multivitamin use on PD age-at-onset are also shown to be subject to a bias from the relationship between age and multivitamin initiation. Case-only studies of age-at-onset must be performed with an appreciation for the association between risk factors and age and ageing in the source population