Ambient video awareness: “It’s great, but I still don’t want it”

Video instant messaging tools are not as widely used as we would have predicted and have so far failed to fulfill their promise to become an indispensable tool of social presence, interacting within the workgroup environment and creating a sense of community. Whilst users are becoming comfortable with videoconferencing and software video meetings, the use of video in “awareness” is still very uncommon. Over a 2-year period, we have run 8 discrete Hexagon room studies on naturalistic “ambient video awareness”. Only one of these studies can be considered to be a (limited) success. This paper discusses some of the factors inhibiting the use of such tools in e-learning environments, based on users’ feedback on issues, such as the tool promotion, user interface, size of community and visibility concerns

Developing a virtual reality environment for petrous bone surgery: a state-of-the-art review

The increasing power of computers has led to the development of sophisticated systems that aim to immerse the user in a virtual environment. The benefits of this type of approach to the training of physicians and surgeons are immediately apparent. Unfortunately the implementation of “virtual reality” (VR) surgical simulators has been restricted by both cost and technical limitations. The few successful systems use standardized scenarios, often derived from typical clinical data, to allow the rehearsal of procedures. In reality we would choose a system that allows us not only to practice typical cases but also to enter our own patient data and use it to define the virtual environment. In effect we want to re-write the scenario every time we use the environment and to ensure that its behavior exactly duplicates the behavior of the real tissue. If this can be achieved then VR systems can be used not only to train surgeons but also to rehearse individual procedures where variations in anatomy or pathology present specific surgical problems. The European Union has recently funded a multinational 3-year project (IERAPSI, Integrated Environment for Rehearsal and Planning of Surgical Interventions) to produce a virtual reality system for surgical training and for rehearsing individual procedures. Building the IERAPSI system will bring together a wide range of experts and combine the latest technologies to produce a true, patient specific virtual reality surgical simulator for petrous/temporal bone procedures. This article presents a review of the “state of the art” technologies currently available to construct a system of this type and an overview of the functionality and specifications such a system requires

A policy evaluation of Hawaii\u27s coral reef management strategies

Coral reefs playa critically important rale in both the human and natural world. They are among the most biologically rich systems on earth and are of significant economic value to humans. They act as an important base for fisheries and provide food, jobs, and income to billions of people worldwide. These delicate systems are increasingly threatened by several factors including overexploitation pollution, habitat loss, coral bleaching, and global climate change. The rapid decline and loss of the ancient and complex ecosystems had triggered major concern all over the world. Hawaiian coral reefs have experienced an increasing exposure to anthropogenic threats since development skyracketed in the 1950\u27s. Because this is a period of less than a century, the reefs in Hawaii are among the most pristine in the world in close proximity to human development. Their isolation pravides an outstanding opportunity to study the direct effects of anthrapogenic and natural impacts to coral reef ecosystems. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between population changes in Hawaii, policy implementation, and trends observed in local coral reefs. This information will pravide a better understanding of policy effectiveness, and provides a means to recommend possible policy improvements. Learning how to manage Hawaii\u27s coral reef ecosystems can provide a valuable framework for coral conservation efforts around the world, and con be a key component in the movement toward coral reef sustainability

The Journal of the Friends' Historical Society vol. 4 No. 1

1. Notes and Queries. 2. Our Bibliographers. 3. A New Book on George Fox. 4. American Letters of Edmund Peckover. 5. Meeting Records. 6. Friends at Newbury, Berkshire. 7. Presentations of Quakers in Episcopal Visitations, 1662-1679. 8. Friends on the Atlantic. 9. The Collection of Friends' Books in the Library of Haverford College, Pa. 10. The late Duke of Argyle's Estimate of Elizabeth Fry. 11. A so-called "Quaker Highwayman". 12. Matthew Raven, Stainesgate, Essex. 13. Brewers Yard Burial Ground. 14. Marriage Certificate - Hough-Barnes, 1676. 15. Paul Bevan's "One Little Book". 16. Land in New Jersey, 1685. 17. Minister and Merchant. 18. Friends in Current Literature. 19. Friends' Reference Library

Association between proton pump inhibitor therapy and clostridium difficile infection: a contemporary systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Introduction Emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) acid-suppression therapy is associated with an increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Methods Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from 1990 to January 2012 for analytical studies that reported an adjusted effect estimate of the association between PPI use and CDI. We performed random-effect meta-analyses. We used the GRADE framework to interpret the findings. Results We identified 47 eligible citations (37 case-control and 14 cohort studies) with corresponding 51 effect estimates. The pooled OR was 1.65, 95% CI (1.47, 1.85), I2 = 89.9%, with evidence of publication bias suggested by a contour funnel plot. A novel regression based method was used to adjust for publication bias and resulted in an adjusted pooled OR of 1.51 (95% CI, 1.26–1.83). In a speculative analysis that assumes that this association is based on causality, and based on published baseline CDI incidence, the risk of CDI would be very low in the general population taking PPIs with an estimated NNH of 3925 at 1 year. Conclusions In this rigorously conducted systemic review and meta-analysis, we found very low quality evidence (GRADE class) for an association between PPI use and CDI that does not support a cause-effect relationship