Virtual Meeting Rooms: From Observation to Simulation

Virtual meeting rooms are used for simulation of real meeting behavior and can show how people behave, how they gesture, move their heads, bodies, their gaze behavior during conversations. They are used for visualising models of meeting behavior, and they can be used for the evaluation of these models. They are also used to show the effects of controlling certain parameters on the behavior and in experiments to see what the effect is on communication when various channels of information - speech, gaze, gesture, posture - are switched off or manipulated in other ways. The paper presents the various stages in the development of a virtual meeting room as well and illustrates its uses by presenting some results of experiments to see whether human judges can induce conversational roles in a virtual meeting situation when they only see the head movements of participants in the meeting

Virtual Meeting Rooms: From Observation to Simulation

Much working time is spent in meetings and, as a consequence, meetings have become the subject of multidisciplinary research. Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) are 3D virtual replicas of meeting rooms, where various modalities such as speech, gaze, distance, gestures and facial expressions can be controlled. This allows VMRs to be used to improve remote meeting participation, to visualize multimedia data and as an instrument for research into social interaction in meetings. This paper describes how these three uses can be realized in a VMR. We describe the process from observation through annotation to simulation and a model that describes the relations between the annotated features of verbal and non-verbal conversational behavior.\ud As an example of social perception research in the VMR, we describe an experiment to assess human observers’ accuracy for head orientation

PACIOLI 14 : changes in farming and the effects on FADNs

The PACIOLI Network explores the need for and feasibility of innovation in farm accounting and its consequences for data gathering for policy analysis in Farm Accountancy Data Networks (FADNs). PACIOLI 14 was held in Vught, near 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, in October 2006. The theme of the workshop focused on changes in farming and its consequences for FADNs

De Nederlandse landbouw op het Europese scorebord

Dit rapport geeft inzicht in de concurrentiepositie van de Nederlandse land- en tuinbouwbedrijven binnen de Europese Unie. Voor de gehele agrarische sector worden ontwikkelingen in productie, structuur, werkgelegenheid en inkomen beschreven. Voor de akkerbouw, de bloemen-, de groente- en fruitteelt, de melkveehouderij, de rundvleesproductie en de varkenshouderij is de positie van de Nederlandse bedrijven vergeleken met die in de belangrijkste concurrerende gebieden in de EU. Ingegaan wordt op de ontwikkeling van opbrengsten, kosten, inkomen, investeringen en financiële positie. Daarnaast krijgt de regionale verscheidenheid van de landbouw in de Europese Unie afzonderlijk aandacht

Precision dosing of doxapram in preterm infants using continuous pharmacodynamic data and model-based pharmacokinetics: an illustrative case series

IntroductionCurrent drug dosing in preterm infants is standardized, mostly based on bodyweight. Still, covariates such as gestational and postnatal age may importantly alter pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Evaluation of drug therapy in these patients is very difficult because objective pharmacodynamic parameters are generally lacking. By integrating continuous physiological data with model-based drug exposure and data on adverse drug reactions (ADRs), we aimed to show the potential benefit for optimized individual pharmacotherapy.Materials and MethodsContinuous data on oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO(2)) and composite parameters, including the SpO(2)/FiO(2) ratio and the cumulative oxygen shortage under the 89% SpO(2) limit, served as indicators for doxapram effectiveness. We analyzed these continuous effect data, integrated with doxapram exposure and ADR parameters, obtained in preterm infants around the start of doxapram therapy. The exposures to doxapram and the active metabolite keto-doxapram were simulated using a population pharmacokinetic model. Infants were selected and retrospectively compared on the indication to start doxapram, the first response to doxapram, a potential dose-response relationship, and the administered dosage over time. Recommendations were made for individual improvements of therapy.ResultsWe provide eight cases of continuous doxapram administration that illustrate a correct and incorrect indication to start doxapram, responders and non-responders to therapy, and unnecessary over-exposure with ADRs. Recommendations for improvement of therapy include: objective evaluation of added effect of doxapram after start, prevention of overdosing by earlier down-titration or termination of therapy, and the prevention of hypoxia and agitation by measuring specific parameters at strategical time-points.ConclusionReal-time and non-invasive effect monitoring of drug therapy combined with model-based exposure provides relevant information to clinicians and can importantly improve therapy. The variability between and within patients emphasizes the importance of individual, objective evaluation of pharmacotherapy. These measurements, together with data on ADRs, allow for precision medicine in neonatology that should be brought to the bedside.Pharmacolog

The net value added approach as a tool for integration at the micro level

There are major changes in the structure of farms and farm households, the levels of enumeration in agricultural statistics, and in the linkages between these levels. To record and enhance understanding of these developments this paper proposes use of a net value added (NVA) approach at the micro level to reflect the participation of a wide variety of stakeholders in the organization and output of farms. NVA is widely used and internationally standardized. NVA concepts can be applied at the micro level to show to which stakeholders the income of the farm is distributed. We show in the paper that stakeholder involvement and distribution of NVA differs among countries, based on economic opportunities and institutions. Being aware of such differences is relevant in the international policy context because many policies involve distributional impacts, particularly for income and wealth. Based on results, we present an agenda for future work to promote the international integration of micro economic statistics in agricultur

Comprehensive evaluation of deconvolution methods for human brain gene expression

Transcriptome deconvolution aims to estimate the cellular composition of an RNA sample from its gene expression data, which in turn can be used to correct for composition differences across samples. The human brain is unique in its transcriptomic diversity, and comprises a complex mixture of cell-types, including transcriptionally similar subtypes of neurons. Here, we carry out a comprehensive evaluation of deconvolution methods for human brain transcriptome data, and assess the tissue-specificity of our key observations by comparison with human pancreas and heart. We evaluate eight transcriptome deconvolution approaches and nine cell-type signatures, testing the accuracy of deconvolution using in silico mixtures of single-cell RNA-seq data, RNA mixtures, as well as nearly 2000 human brain samples. Our results identify the main factors that drive deconvolution accuracy for brain data, and highlight the importance of biological factors influencing cell-type signatures, such as brain region and in vitro cell culturing.Gavin J. Sutton, Daniel Poppe, Rebecca K. Simmons, Kieran Walsh, Urwah Nawaz, Ryan Lister, Johann A. Gagnon-Bartsch, Irina Voineag

Use of Continuous Physiological Monitor Data to Evaluate Doxapram Therapy in Preterm Infants

Introduction: Evaluation of pharmacotherapy during intensive care treatment is commonly based on subjective, intermittent interpretations of physiological parameters. Realtime visualization and analysis may improve drug effect evaluation. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the respiratory stimulant doxapram objectively in preterm infants using continuous physiological parameters. Methods: In this longitudinal observational study, preterm infants who receiv