INFLUENCE OF SKIN MOVEMENT ARTEFACTS ON THE CALCULATED KINEMATIC GEOMETRY AND JOINT KINETICS OF THE LOCOMOTOR SYSTEM DURING ACTIVITY

INTRODUCTION: Motion analysis has played an important role in sports and orthopaedic biomechanics. A major source of error in modern skin-marker-based motion analysis systems is skin movement artefacts (Cappozzo et al., 1996). Traditional methods have either failed to reduce effectively skin movement artefacts or simply ignored them in reconstructing movement, resulting in artefactual joint dislocation or inaccurate limb positions, with important consequences on the calculated geometry and joint kinetics of the locomotor musculoskeletal system. The present study addresses these issues

An evidence based ranking system for multiple studies designs for informing public policy. An example using interventions associated with Salmonella in swine.

Using the association between feed characteristics and Salmonella prevalence we will present an approach to combining data with multiple outcomes from multiple studies designs. The approach may be a method of informing policy makers in the area of food safety when a large amount of heterogeneous literature is available about a topic. The procedure for a systematic review of the literature was followed until the synthesis component. However, to combine the evidence we modified of the FDA Interim Evidence Ranking System for Scientific Information. Each study was characterized as one of 5 study design types based on evidentiary value. After classification by evidentiary value, the studies were considered collectively to rate the strength of the body of evidence based on quantity and consistency. The quantity ranking considered the number of studies, the number of individuals studied and generalizability to the target population. The consistency ranking considered whether studies with different designs reported similar findings. After ranking the body of evidence, an overall ranking was assigned for the strength of the evidence. The final ranking system had four levels. For example, the highest rank of scientific evidence, reflects a high level of comfort among qualified scientists that the association/relationship is scientifically valid. This level ranked relationship would be considered to have a very low probability of significant new data overturning the conclusion that the relationship is valid or significantly changing the nature of the relationship

Field Theory Entropy, the HH-theorem and the Renormalization Group

We consider entropy and relative entropy in Field theory and establish relevant monotonicity properties with respect to the couplings. The relative entropy in a field theory with a hierarchy of renormalization group fixed points ranks the fixed points, the lowest relative entropy being assigned to the highest multicritical point. We argue that as a consequence of a generalized $H$ theorem Wilsonian RG flows induce an increase in entropy and propose the relative entropy as the natural quantity which increases from one fixed point to another in more than two dimensions.Comment: 25 pages, plain TeX (macros included), 6 ps figures. Addition in title. Entropy of cutoff Gaussian model modified in section 4 to avoid a divergence. Therefore, last figure modified. Other minor changes to improve readability. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Interventions associated with feeding management practices and feed characteristics, and measures of Salmonella prevalence in live and slaughtered swine: A systematic review and summation of evidence

The aim of this review is to evaluate and summarize the evidence for associations between feeding management practices and feed characteristics, and Salmonella prevalence in swine, which may represent opportunities for interventions. Salmonella prevalence in the reviewed literature was measured either by culture or by the presence of antibodies. A systematic review of the area was conducted, the goal being to minimize the impact of bias. Systematic reviews include an assessment of the quality of studies and exclusion of studies that fail to meet standards for published material. The review evaluated evidence for an association between feed withdrawal from swine prior to slaughter, acidification of feed, heat treatment of feed, pellet vs. mash, course vs fine grind, and wet vs. dry. A large number of intervention studies were excluded from the review because they failed to report design features designed to limit the introduction of bias such as randomization and blinding. The majority of studies included were cross sectional studies, however these failed to provide strong evidence of an association because of the potential for confounding and the failure to document a temporal association between exposure to the risk factor and the outcome. The review concluded that title strongest body of work was available for pelleted feed and dry feed, however there was still uncertainty about the situations were this association may be effective. The conclusion was that there should be a low level of comfort among qualified scientists that the claimed association/relationship is scientifically valid. This ranking is primarily based on moderate to low quality studies, or insufficient numbers of tested individuals or herds, resulting in a low degree of confidence that results could be extrapolated to the target population

Kinetics of chlorine depletion and microbial growth in household plumbing systems

To date, the microbial ecology of water treatment and distribution systems has never been systematically explored. Despite chronic problems with microbial growths in water distribution systems, the waterworks literature would indicate that the fundamentals, techniques and applications of microbial ecology are virtually unknown to the waterworks profession. Microbial ecology is the science that explores the relationships between microorganisms and their environment. A study of microbial ecology involves an assessment of the changes in the total and individual members of the microbial community. In distribution systems, the microbial ecology would be influenced by the influx of organisms, the surface colonization of distribution mains, the invasion of distribution systems by organisms from external sources, variations in flow, the chemical composition of the distributed water and the effective concentration of residual disinfectant. In addition, seasonal water temperature changes would be expected to affect total microbial populations. An assessment of microbial ecology requires the determination of, at least, four basic parameters.Project # G-1235-02 Agreement # 14-08-0001-G-1235-0

Development of new methodology for the assessment of water treatment plant performance with respect to the removal of cyst-sized particles

"This is the fourth in a four-part series of year-long studies conducted at the Capital City Water Treatment Plant, Jefferson City, Missouri, over the period of 1985 to 1989, to evaluate the effect of temperature on water treatment plant performance and to observe the subsequent changes in water quality during distribution."--IntroductionProject # G-1572-06 Agreement # 14-08-0001-G-157

Vaccination against Salmonella and the association with measures of Salmonella prevalence in live and slaughtered swine - A systematic review

A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccination to reduce Salmonella prevalence in market weight finisher swine. To identify relevant studies, online databases and selected conference proceedings were searched. Two reviewers independently assessed the relevance screening and methodological quality of studies. Data of characteristics of study population, intervention, outcome, statistical analysis, and results were extracted. Four clinical trials and 21 challenge studies were identified for the final review as they described vaccination to reduce Salmonella in swine Present evidence suggests that vaccination is associated with reduced Salmonella prevalence in swine

The Specific Heat of a Ferromagnetic Film.

We analyze the specific heat for the $O(N)$ vector model on a $d$-dimensional film geometry of thickness $L$ using ``environmentally friendly'' renormalization. We consider periodic, Dirichlet and antiperiodic boundary conditions, deriving expressions for the specific heat and an effective specific heat exponent, \alpha\ef. In the case of $d=3$, for $N=1$, by matching to the exact exponent of the two dimensional Ising model we capture the crossover for \xi_L\ra\infty between power law behaviour in the limit {L\over\xi_L}\ra\infty and logarithmic behaviour in the limit {L\over\xi_L}\ra0 for fixed $L$, where $\xi_L$ is the correlation length in the transverse dimensions.Comment: 21 pages of Plain TeX. Postscript figures available upon request from [email protected]

Dallas with balls: televized sport, soap opera and male and female pleasures

Two of the most popular of television genres, soap opera and sports coverage have been very much differentiated along gender lines in terms of their audiences. Soap opera has been regarded very much as a 'gynocentric' genre with a large female viewing audience while the audiences for television sport have been predominantly male. Gender differentiation between the genres has had implications for the popular image of each. Soap opera has been perceived as inferior; as mere fantasy and escapism for women while television sports has been perceived as a legitimate, even edifying experience for men. In this article the authors challenge the view that soap opera and television sport are radically different and argue that they are, in fact, very similar in a number of significant ways. They suggest that both genres invoke similar structures of feeling and sensibility in their respective audiences and that television sport is a 'male soap opera'. They consider the ways in which the viewing context of each genre is related to domestic life and leisure, the ways in which the textual structure and conventions of each genre invoke emotional identification, and finally, the ways in which both genres re-affirm gender identities