A characteristics framework for Semantic Information Systems Standards

Semantic Information Systems (IS) Standards play a critical role in the development of the networked economy. While their importance is undoubted by all stakeholders—such as businesses, policy makers, researchers, developers—the current state of research leaves a number of questions unaddressed. Terminological confusion exists around the notions of “business semantics”, “business-to-business interoperability”, and “interoperability standards” amongst others. And, moreover, a comprehensive understanding about the characteristics of Semantic IS Standards is missing. The paper addresses this gap in literature by developing a characteristics framework for Semantic IS Standards. Two case studies are used to check the applicability of the framework in a “real-life” context. The framework lays the foundation for future research in an important field of the IS discipline and supports practitioners in their efforts to analyze, compare, and evaluate Semantic IS Standard

Patent abdominal subcutaneous veins caused by congenital absence of the inferior vena cava: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Patent paraumbilical and abdominal subcutaneous veins are found frequently as collaterals in patients due to portal hypertension mainly in liver cirrhosis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>For evaluation of portal hypertension in a 72-year-old Caucasian man without liver cirrhosis, magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium contrast-enhancement was performed and demonstrated a missing inferior vena cava. A blood return from the lower extremities was shown through enlarged collateral veins of the abdominal wall, vena azygos and hemiazygos continuation, and multiple liver veins emptying into the right cardiac atrium. We describe a rare case of abdominal subcutaneous wall veins as collaterals caused by a congenitally absent infrarenal inferior vena cava with preservation of a hypoplastic suprarenal segment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Knowledge of these congenital variations can be of clinical importance and it is imperative for the reporting radiologist to identify these anomalies as they can have a significant impact on the clinical management of the patient.</p

QRTEngine: An easy solution for running online reaction time experiments using Qualtrics

Performing online behavioral research is gaining increased popularity among researchers in psychological and cognitive science. However, the currently available methods for conducting online reaction time experiments are often complicated and typically require advanced technical skills. In this article, we introduce the Qualtrics Reaction Time Engine (QRTEngine), an open-source JavaScript engine that can be embedded in the online survey development environment Qualtrics. The QRTEngine can be used to easily develop browser-based online reaction time experiments with accurate timing within current browser capabilities, and it requires only minimal programming skills. After introducing the QRTEngine, we briefly discuss how to create and distribute a Stroop task. Next, we describe a study in which we investigated the timing accuracy of the engine under different processor loads using external chronometry. Finally, we show that the QRTEngine can be used to reproduce classic behavioral effects in three reaction time paradigms: a Stroop task, an attentional blink task, and a masked-priming task. These findings demonstrate that QRTEngine can be used as a tool for conducting online behavioral research even when this requires accurate stimulus presentation times

Developing a digital intervention for cancer survivors: an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach

This paper illustrates a rigorous approach to developing digital interventions using an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach. Intervention planning included a rapid scoping review which identified cancer survivors’ needs, including barriers and facilitators to intervention success. Review evidence (N=49 papers) informed the intervention’s Guiding Principles, theory-based behavioural analysis and logic model. The intervention was optimised based on feedback on a prototype intervention through interviews (N=96) with cancer survivors and focus groups with NHS staff and cancer charity workers (N=31). Interviews with cancer survivors highlighted barriers to engagement, such as concerns about physical activity worsening fatigue. Focus groups highlighted concerns about support appointment length and how to support distressed participants. Feedback informed intervention modifications, to maximise acceptability, feasibility and likelihood of behaviour change. Our systematic method for understanding user views enabled us to anticipate and address important barriers to engagement. This methodology may be useful to others developing digital interventions

Coordinated optimization of visual cortical maps (II) Numerical studies

It is an attractive hypothesis that the spatial structure of visual cortical architecture can be explained by the coordinated optimization of multiple visual cortical maps representing orientation preference (OP), ocular dominance (OD), spatial frequency, or direction preference. In part (I) of this study we defined a class of analytically tractable coordinated optimization models and solved representative examples in which a spatially complex organization of the orientation preference map is induced by inter-map interactions. We found that attractor solutions near symmetry breaking threshold predict a highly ordered map layout and require a substantial OD bias for OP pinwheel stabilization. Here we examine in numerical simulations whether such models exhibit biologically more realistic spatially irregular solutions at a finite distance from threshold and when transients towards attractor states are considered. We also examine whether model behavior qualitatively changes when the spatial periodicities of the two maps are detuned and when considering more than 2 feature dimensions. Our numerical results support the view that neither minimal energy states nor intermediate transient states of our coordinated optimization models successfully explain the spatially irregular architecture of the visual cortex. We discuss several alternative scenarios and additional factors that may improve the agreement between model solutions and biological observations.Comment: 55 pages, 11 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1102.335

Phytophthora species and oak decline - can a weak competitor cause significant root damage in a nonsterilized acidic forest soil?

Phytophthora species in general, and P. quercina in particular, have been suggested in several studies to be a contributing factor to the problem of oak decline in Europe. Although Phytophthora species are generally regarded as weak competitors, few studies of the pathogenicity of species causing root rot on oaks have hitherto been performed in natural, nonsterilized forest soils. This study describes the effects of seven southern Swedish isolates of P. quercina and one isolate of P. cactorum on root vitality of Quercus robur seedlings grown in a natural, nonsterilized, acidic forest soil. The pathogenicity of P. quercina and P. cactorum were tested using a soil infestation test. The climatic conditions applied were an attempt to simulate summer conditions in southern Sweden. Both species of Phytophthora caused a significant dieback of fine roots, and necrotic lesions on coarser roots, of Q. robur seedlings. Total and live root lengths were significantly lower in infected seedlings than in controls. No significant effects of Phytophthora on above-ground growth or leaf nutrient concentration were found. The results demonstrate that P. quercina and P. cactorum can cause substantial root dieback of seedlings of Q. robur in natural, acidic forest soils in competition with the inhabiting soil microflora under a mesic water regime

Assessing Risk in Focal Arboviral Infections: Are We Missing the Big or Little Picture?

Focal arboviral infections affecting a subset of the overall population present an often overlooked set of challenges in the assessment and reporting of risk and the detection of spatial patterns. Our objective was to assess the variation in risk when using different at-risk populations and geographic scales for the calculation of incidence risk and the detection of geographic hot-spots of infection. We explored these variations using a pediatric arbovirus, La Crosse virus (LACV), as our model.Descriptive and cluster analyses were performed on probable and confirmed cases of LACV infections reported to the Tennessee Department of Health from 1997 to 2006, using three at-risk populations (the total population, the population 18 years and younger, and the population 15 years and younger) and at two geographic levels (county and census tract) to assess the variation in incidence risk and to investigate evidence of clustering using both global and local spatial statistics. We determined that the most appropriate at-risk population to calculate incidence risk and to assess the evidence of clustering was the population 15 years and younger. Based on our findings, the most appropriate geographical level to conduct spatial analyses and report incidence risk is the census tract level. The incidence risk in the population 15 years and younger at the county level ranged from 0 to 226.5 per 100,000 persons (median 41.5) in those counties reporting cases (n = 14) and at the census tract level it ranged from 50.9 to 673.9 per 100,000 persons (median 126.7) in those census tracts reporting cases (n = 51). To our knowledge, this is the highest reported incidence risk for this population at the county level for Tennessee and at the census tract level nationally.The results of this study indicate the possibility of missing disease clusters resulting from performing incidence risk investigations of focal diseases using inappropriate at-risk populations and/or at large geographic scales. Improved disease surveillance and health planning will result through the use of well defined at-risk populations and the use of appropriate geographic scales for the analysis and reporting of diseases. The finding of a high incidence risk of LACV infections in eastern Tennessee demonstrates that the vast majority of these infections continue to be under-diagnosed and/or underreported in this region. Persistent prevention and surveillance efforts will be required to reduce exposure to infectious vectors and to detect new cases of infection in this region. Application of this study's observations in future investigations will enhance the quantification of incidence risk and the identification of high-risk groups within the population

The Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors Predictive for Populations at High-Risk for La Crosse Virus Infection in West Virginia

Although a large body of literature exists for the environmental risk factors for La Crosse virus (LACV) transmission, the demographic and socioeconomic risk factors for developing LACV infection have not been investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the demographic and socioeconomic risk factors for LACV infection in West Virginia from 2003 to 2007, using two forward stepwise discriminant analyses. The discriminant analyses were used to evaluate a number of demographic and socioeconomic factors for their ability to predict: 1) those census tracts with at least one reported case of LACV infection versus those census tracts with no reported cases of LACV infection and 2) to evaluate significantly high-risk clusters for LACV infection versus significantly low-risk clusters for LACV infection. In the first model, a high school education diploma or a general education diploma or less and a lower housing densit

A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201