Amblyopia and quality of life: a systematic review

Background/Aims Amblyopia is a common condition which can affect up to 5% of the general population. The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment have been explored in the literature. Methods A systematic literature search was undertaken (16th-30th January 2007) to identify the HRQoL implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment. Results A total of 25 papers were included in the literature review. The HRQoL implications of amblyopia related specifically to amblyopia treatment, rather than the condition itself. These included the impact upon family life; social interactions; difficulties undertaking daily activities; and feelings and behaviour. The identified studies adopted a number of methodologies. The study populations included; children with the condition; parents of children with amblyopia; and adults who had undertaken amblyopia treatment as a child. Some studies developed their own measures of HRQoL, and others determined HRQoL through proxy measures. Conclusions The reported findings of the HRQoL implications are of importance when considering the management of cases of amblyopia. Further research is required to assess the immediate and long-term effects of amblyopia and/or its treatment upon HRQoL using a more standardised approach

Entangling power of the quantum baker's map

We investigate entanglement production in a class of quantum baker's maps. The dynamics of these maps is constructed using strings of qubits, providing a natural tensor-product structure for application of various entanglement measures. We find that, in general, the quantum baker's maps are good at generating entanglement, producing multipartite entanglement amongst the qubits close to that expected in random states. We investigate the evolution of several entanglement measures: the subsystem linear entropy, the concurrence to characterize entanglement between pairs of qubits, and two proposals for a measure of multipartite entanglement. Also derived are some new analytical formulae describing the levels of entanglement expected in random pure states.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure

Generalized uncertainty relations: Theory, examples, and Lorentz invariance

The quantum-mechanical framework in which observables are associated with Hermitian operators is too narrow to discuss measurements of such important physical quantities as elapsed time or harmonic-oscillator phase. We introduce a broader framework that allows us to derive quantum-mechanical limits on the precision to which a parameter---e.g., elapsed time---may be determined via arbitrary data analysis of arbitrary measurements on $N$ identically prepared quantum systems. The limits are expressed as generalized Mandelstam-Tamm uncertainty relations, which involve the operator that generates displacements of the parameter---e.g., the Hamiltonian operator in the case of elapsed time. This approach avoids entirely the problem of associating a Hermitian operator with the parameter. We illustrate the general formalism, first, with nonrelativistic uncertainty relations for spatial displacement and momentum, harmonic-oscillator phase and number of quanta, and time and energy and, second, with Lorentz-invariant uncertainty relations involving the displacement and Lorentz-rotation parameters of the Poincar\'e group.Comment: 39 pages of text plus one figure; text formatted in LaTe

A multimedia tutorial shell with qualitative assessment in biology

The project is developing methods to produce multimedia tutorials relatively quickly and cheaply, using a generic software shell suitable for any subject area. The shell is a version of one produced originally as part of the HEFC-funded TLTP initiative by the Biodiversity Consortium. Tutorials presented in the shell will provide the student with a structured learning experience that will allow their initial knowledge level or their knowledge acquisition and progress to be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed. Where areas of weakness are revealed by the assessment, students will be advised to study particular parts of the tutorial in order to improve their understanding

GPU Acceleration of Image Convolution using Spatially-varying Kernel

Image subtraction in astronomy is a tool for transient object discovery such as asteroids, extra-solar planets and supernovae. To match point spread functions (PSFs) between images of the same field taken at different times a convolution technique is used. Particularly suitable for large-scale images is a computationally intensive spatially-varying kernel. The underlying algorithm is inherently massively parallel due to unique kernel generation at every pixel location. The spatially-varying kernel cannot be efficiently computed through the Convolution Theorem, and thus does not lend itself to acceleration by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This work presents results of accelerated implementation of the spatially-varying kernel image convolution in multi-cores with OpenMP and graphic processing units (GPUs). Typical speedups over ANSI-C were a factor of 50 and a factor of 1000 over the initial IDL implementation, demonstrating that the techniques are a practical and high impact path to terabyte-per-night image pipelines and petascale processing.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted to IEEE-ICIP 201

I Am Surrounded by Love: an inquiry into the use of songs with a woman with traumatic brain injury, 11 years post-injury

The use of songs in music therapy with persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) has many facets and applications in rehabilitation. Analyses of lyrics, song construct, and song choice have been examined with persons with TBI in coma states and early post-coma recovery, but more research is needed that focuses on what occurs when songs in therapy are introduced at a later point in TBI recovery. This narrative inquiry examined the therapeutic relevance of melody, rhythm, and song structure in songs for a woman with TBI from a 3-year period of weekly music therapy sessions. The participants in this study included the music therapy client (a woman with TBI in her mid-30s receiving music therapy for the first time 11 years post-injury), her art therapist, her primary care aide, and her mother. All participants were chosen by purposive sampling. Detailed therapist notes, recordings of therapy sessions, and interview dialogue provide the data for the study. Song lyrics and musical constructs were examined using detailed transcriptions of songs used in therapy. Results of this study may be used to inform music therapists on the effect of songs used in therapy with persons with TBI when music therapy is introduced a number of years after the injury