Regularity scalable image coding based on wavelet singularity detection

In this paper, we propose an adaptive algorithm for scalable wavelet image coding, which is based on the general feature, the regularity, of images. In pattern recognition or computer vision, regularity of images is estimated from the oriented wavelet coefficients and quantified by the Lipschitz exponents. To estimate the Lipschitz exponents, evaluating the interscale evolution of the wavelet transform modulus sum (WTMS) over the directional cone of influence was proven to be a better approach than tracing the wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM). This is because the irregular sampling nature of the WTMM complicates the reconstruction process. Moreover, examples were found to show that the WTMM representation cannot uniquely characterize a signal. It implies that the reconstruction of signal from its WTMM may not be consistently stable. Furthermore, the WTMM approach requires much more computational effort. Therefore, we use the WTMS approach to estimate the regularity of images from the separable wavelet transformed coefficients. Since we do not concern about the localization issue, we allow the decimation to occur when we evaluate the interscale evolution. After the regularity is estimated, this information is utilized in our proposed adaptive regularity scalable wavelet image coding algorithm. This algorithm can be simply embedded into any wavelet image coders, so it is compatible with the existing scalable coding techniques, such as the resolution scalable and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scalable coding techniques, without changing the bitstream format, but provides more scalable levels with higher peak signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs) and lower bit rates. In comparison to the other feature-based wavelet scalable coding algorithms, the proposed algorithm outperforms them in terms of visual perception, computational complexity and coding efficienc

Fios e desafios da atenção à saúde da criança no estado do Espírito Santo: análise da mortalidade de zero a cinco anos com gestores do Programa Estadual de Saúde da Mulher e da Criança

Trata-se de um estudo de abordagem qualitativa que objetivou discutir a mortalidade de zero a cinco anos, no estado do Espírito Santo, no lapso de agosto de 2011 a agosto de 2012, a partir de matérias veiculadas por um jornal diário da mídia impressa de grande circulação, a saber A Gazeta. As referidas matérias constituíram uma hemeroteca que subsidiou a criação de um painel reprográfico. Os sujeitos da investigação foram os técnicos que compõem a equipe da Coordenação do Programa Estadual de Saúde da Mulher e da Criança, e a produção do material de estudo se deu a partir da análise de um grupo focal, com roteiro semiestruturado, tendo como partida a análise de uma cópia do painel contendo todas as máterias. Todo o material foi gravado e filmado. A Análise Institutucional foi a baliza norteadora de toda a elaboração e descrição do estudo. Conforme preconiza este quadro teórico proposto por Lourau, a etapa final do projeto constituiu-se em uma restituição concreta parte do procedimento científico, tratando-se da discussão das produções na pesquisa com os interessados, de modo a possibilitar a sua interferência direta neste processo. O estudo demonstrou que os sujeitos, a partir do dispositivo analisador natural, a morte de crianças menores de cinco anos, conseguiram fazer uma reflexão sobre o quanto é necessário buscar uma interlocução com os demais setores e perceber que a análise institucional, com sua potência de provocar a autoanálise e a autogestão, proporcionou-lhes uma possibilidade de repensar seus processos de trabalho na atenção à saúde da criança

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Fast-track surgery in elderly patients undergoing colorectal cancer radical resection

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of applying fast-track surgery (FTS) to elderly patients undergoing radical resection of colorectal cancer. Methods: Elderly patients undergoing radical resection of colorectal cancer received FTS (n = 31) or routine (n = 31) nursing care. The time to first anal exhaust, oral feeding and leaving the bed, duration of postoperative hospital stay and the incidence of complications were compared between the two groups. Results: Patients receiving FTS nursing demonstrated significantly shorter times to exhaust, oral feeding and leaving the bed compared with those receiving routine nursing (all p < 0.01). Furthermore, there were significantly fewer incidences of postoperative pulmonary and urinary tract infections and intestinal adhesion in patients receiving FTS nursing (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Application of FTS in elderly patients undergoing radical resection of colorectal cancer facilitates an early rehabilitation after surgery, but places higher demands on nursing care

Tri-band dual-polarization shared-aperture microstrip array for SAR applications

The design of a tri-band dual-polarization (TBDP) shared-aperture microstrip array antenna for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications is presented. It operates at L-, Sand X-bands with a frequency ratio of 1:2.8:8. This TBDP shared-aperture array is assembled by two L/S and L/X DBDP shared-aperture sub-arrays with one L-band dual-polarized sub-array. A prototype array has been fabricated and measured, which exhibits wide impedance bandwidth (VSWR ≤ 2) of 13.4%, 14.8%, and 16.8% in L-, S-, and X-bands, respectively. The measured array isolation is better than -27 dB in all three bands. The measured radiation patterns agree well with the simulation, confirming the cross-polarization level of below dB within the main lobe region, and the array scanning capability of ±27° in S- and X-bands. This array design approach can be further extended to shared-aperture arrays with more than three bands.9 page(s