A Study of effect of CRT gamma and white point on softcopy and hardcopy agreement

DTP (Desk Top Publishing) professionals rely on CRT displays to provide visual feedback to adjust or to proof color prior to hardcopy. Solutions are now appearing in the market to meet this need. But the proper CRT calibration is still not clear to the end users. The objective of this work is to study the CRT setting in terms of gamma and white point; and to explore gamma and white point\u27s effects on softcopy (CRT displayed image) and hardcopy (CMYK printed image) agreement. A number of CRT calibration experiments were performed. Two SCID (Standard Color Image Data) images were used in this study to test the agreement between a softcopy and a hardcopy image. A number of color measurement devices and color management software packages were used in this study. Specifically, ColorTron was used in this study as the tool to calibrate the CRT. Adobe Photoshop, with the ColorSync 2.0 plug-in module was used in this study to implement the printer CMYK to CRT RGB transformation. ColorBlind was used in this study to generate printer and monitor profiles. CA-100 was used in this study as a colorimetric measurement device for data collection and image gamma analysis. By means of observer experiment conducted under dark ambient light, it was found that the different CRT profiles do influence the color transformation between printer CMYK and CRT RGB; the system\u27s default CRT profile (gamma=1.8, whit point=D50, out of 6 CRT profiles tested) cannot achieve the best match between CRT and hardcopy. The optimum CRT profile for the best match was not to be found because of the influence of the keyness of the image itself

Identifying the Predictors for Financial Crisis Using Gibbs Sampler

The Asian financial crisis broke out in Thailand in July 1997, and rapidly spread throughout the neighboring countries. An important question then arises? Is it possible to predict next financial crisis? If yes, then what are the predictors? The answer lies in combined usage of economic theory and econometric methods. By using the economic theory, one can locate possible potential crisis predictors whereas appropriate econometric models can pinpoint effective ones. In this paper we suggest using the Stochastic Search Variable Selection (SSVS) developed by George and McCulloch (1993) to identify the crisis predictors. As is suggested by the name, SSVS stochastically searches for practically significant variables. Each variable coefficient is assumed to come from a mixture of two normal variates with respectively large and small variances. For the former case, this variable is considered as insignificant and should be excluded from the model whereas for the latter, this variable is significant and should be included in the model. SSVS is not affected by the ordering of the candidate variables and is particularly effective when the sample size is much smaller than the number of all possible models. By employing SSVS method, we conclude that annual growth rate of money supply, $M_2$, and the ratio of government debt to GDP are promising predictors for financial crisis. It is worth mentioning that the frequently mentioned factors, such as ratio of total foreign reserve to GDP and the ratio of current deficit to GDP are not selected by our analysis. Our empirical analysis implies that monetary and fiscal policy play a crucial role in exploring the Asian financial crisis.early warning

Identifying the Predictors for Financial Crisis Using Gibbs Sampler

The Asian financial crisis broke out in Thailand in July 1997, and rapidly spread throughout the neighboring countries. An important question then arises? Is it possible to predict next financial crisis? If yes, then what are the predictors? The answer lies in combined usage of economic theory and econometric methods. By using the economic theory, one can locate possible potential crisis predictors whereas appropriate econometric models can pinpoint effective ones. In this paper we suggest using the Stochastic Search Variable Selection (SSVS) developed by George and McCulloch (1993) to identify the crisis predictors. As is suggested by the name, SSVS stochastically searches for practically significant variables. Each variable coefficient is assumed to come from a mixture of two normal variates with respectively large and small variances. For the former case, this variable is considered as insignificant and should be excluded from the model whereas for the latter, this variable is significant and should be included in the model. SSVS is not affected by the ordering of the candidate variables and is particularly effective when the sample size is much smaller than the number of all possible models. By employing SSVS method, we conclude that annual growth rate of money supply, $M_2$, and the ratio of government debt to GDP are promising predictors for financial crisis. It is worth mentioning that the frequently mentioned factors, such as ratio of total foreign reserve to GDP and the ratio of current deficit to GDP are not selected by our analysis. Our empirical analysis implies that monetary and fiscal policy play a crucial role in exploring the Asian financial crisis.Financial crisis, early warning

A Case of Bowen’s Disease and Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma: Long-Term Consequences of Chronic Arsenic Exposure in Chinese Traditional Medicine

Chronic arsenic toxicity occurs primarily through inadvertent ingestion of contaminated water and food or occupational exposure, but it can also occur through medicinal ingestion. This case features a 53-year-old lifetime nonsmoker with chronic asthma treated for 10 years in childhood with Chinese traditional medicine containing arsenic. The patient was diagnosed with Bowen’s disease and developed extensive-stage small-cell carcinoma of the lung 10 years and 47 years, respectively, after the onset of arsenic exposure. Although it has a long history as a medicinal agent, arsenic is a carcinogen associated with many malignancies including those of skin and lung. It is more commonly associated with non–small-cell lung cancer, but the temporal association with Bowen’s disease in the absence of other chemical or occupational exposure strongly points to a causal role for arsenic in this case of small-cell lung cancer. Individuals with documented arsenic-induced Bowen’s disease should be considered for more aggressive screening for long-term complications, especially the development of subsequent malignancies

Rattus Model Utilizing Selective Pulmonary Ischemia Induces Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia

Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), a morbid condition when associated with lung transplant and chronic lung disease, is believed to be a complication of ischemia. Our goal was to develop a simple and reliable model of lung ischemia in the Sprague-Dawley rat that would produce BOOP. Unilateral ischemia without airway occlusion was produced by an occlusive slipknot placed around the left main pulmonary artery. Studies were performed 7 days later. Relative pulmonary and systemic flow to each lung was measured by injection of technetium Tc 99m macroaggregated albumin. Histological sections were examined for structure and necrosis and scored for BOOP. Apoptosis was detected by immunohistochemistry with an antibody against cleaved caspase 3. Pulmonary artery blood flow to left lungs was less than 0.1% of the cardiac output, and bronchial artery circulation was ~2% of aortic artery flow. Histological sections from ischemic left lungs consistently showed Masson bodies, inflammation, and young fibroblasts filling the distal airways and alveoli, consistent with BOOP. In quantitative evaluation of BOOP using epithelial changes, inflammation and fibrosis were higher in ischemic left lungs than right or sham-operated left lungs. Apoptosis was increased in areas exhibiting histological BOOP, but there was no histological evidence of necrosis. Toll-like receptor 4 expression was increased in ischemic left lungs over right. An occlusive slipknot around the main left pulmonary artery in rats produces BOOP, providing direct evidence that ischemia without immunomodulation or coinfection is sufficient to initiate this injury. It also affords an excellent model to study signaling and genetic mechanisms underlying BOOP

Comorbidities in patients with gout prior to and following diagnosis: case-control study

OBJECTIVES: To determine the burden of comorbidities in patients with gout at diagnosis and the risk of developing new comorbidities post diagnosis. METHODS: There were 39 111 patients with incident gout and 39 111 matched controls identified from the UK Clinical Practice Research Data-link. The risk of comorbidity before (ORs) and after the diagnosis of gout (HRs) were estimated, adjusted for age, sex, diagnosis year, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Gout was associated with adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of 1.39 (1.34 to 1.45), 1.89 (1.76 to 2.03) and 2.51 (2.19 to 2.86) for the Charlson index of 1-2, 3-4 and >/=5, respectively. Cardiovascular and genitourinary diseases, in addition to hyperlipidaemia, hypothyroidism, anaemia, psoriasis, chronic pulmonary diseases, osteoarthritis and depression, were associated with a higher risk for gout. Gout was also associated with an adjusted HR (95% CI) of 1.41 (1.34 to 1.48) for having a Charlson index >/=1. Median time to first comorbidity was 43 months in cases and 111 months in controls. Risks for incident comorbidity were higher in cardiovascular, genitourinary, metabolic/endocrine and musculoskeletal diseases, in addition to liver diseases, hemiplegia, depression, anaemia and psoriasis in patients with gout. After additionally adjusting for all comorbidities at diagnosis, gout was associated with a HR (95% CI) for all-cause mortality of 1.13 (1.08 to 1.18; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients with gout have worse pre-existing health status at diagnosis and the risk of incident comorbidity continues to rise following diagnosis. The range of associated comorbidities is broader than previously recognised and merits further evaluation

Chest CT scoring for evaluation of lung sequelae in congenital diaphragmatic hernia survivors

Objectives Data on long-term structural lung abnormalities in survivors of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is scarce. The purpose of this study was to develop a chest computed tomography (CT) score to assess the structural lung sequelae in CDH survivors and to study the correlation between the CT scoring and clinical parameters in the neonatal period and at 1 year of follow-up. Methods A prospective, clinical follow-up program is organised for CDH survivors at the University Hospital of Leuven including a chest CT at the age of 1 year. The CT scoring used and evaluated, named CDH-CT score, was adapted from the revised Aukland score for chronic lung disease of prematurity. Results Thirty-five patients were included. All CT scans showed some pulmonary abnormalities, ranging from very mild to severe. The mean total CT score was 16 (IQR: 9-23), with the greatest contribution from the subscores for decreased attenuation (5; IQR: 2-8), subpleural linear and triangular opacities (4; IQR: 3-5), and atelectasis/consolidation (2; IQR: 1-3). Interobserver and intraobserver agreement was very good for the total score (ICC coefficient > 0.9). Total CT score correlated with number of neonatal days ventilated/on oxygen as well as with respiratory symptoms and feeding problems at 1 year of age. Conclusion The CDH-CT scoring tool has a good intraobserver and interobserver repeatability and correlates with relevant clinical parameters. This holds promise for its use in clinical follow-up and as outcome parameter in clinical interventional studies