289 research outputs found
Image Compression Using SPIHT with Modified Spatial Orientation Trees
AbstractA new way of reordering spatial orientation tree of SPIHT for improving compression efficiencies for monochrome and color images has been proposed. Reordering ensures that SPIHT algorithm codes more significant information in the initial bits. List of insignificant pixels and sets are initialized with fewer number of coefficients compared to conventional SPIHT for monochrome images. For color images an altered parent offspring relationship and an extra level of wavelet decomposition on chrominance planes were performed. PSNR improvement of 32.06% was achieved at 0.01 bpp for monochrome images and 19.76% for color images at 0.05 bpp compared to conventional schemes
Modeling the Longitudinality of User Acceptance of Technology with an Evidence-Adaptive Clinical Decision Support System
This paper presents multiple innovations associated with an electronic health record system developed to support evidence-based medicine practice, and highlights a new construct, based on the technology acceptance model, to explain end users’ acceptance of this technology through a lens of continuous behavioral adaptation and change. We show that this new conceptualization of technology acceptance reveals a richer level of detail of the developmental course whereby individuals adjust their behavior gradually to assimilate technology use. We also show that traditional models such as technology acceptance model (TAM) are not capable of delineating this longitudinal behavioral development process. Our TAM-derived analysis provides lens through which we summarize the significance of this project to research and practice. We show that our application is an excellent exemplar of the “end-to-end” IS design realization process; it has drawn upon multiple disciplines to formulate and solve challenges in medical knowledge engineering, just-in-time provisioning of computerized decision-support advice, diffusion of innovation and individual users’ technology acceptance, usability of human-machine interfaces in healthcare, and sociotechnical issues associated with integrating IT applications into a patient care delivery environment
International chicken trade and increased risk for introducing or reintroducing highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) to uninfected countries.
Every year billions of chickens are shipped thousands of miles around the globe in order to meet the ever increasing demands for this cheap and nutritious protein source. Unfortunately, transporting chickens internationally can also increase the chance for introducing zoonotic viruses, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) to new countries. Our study used a retrospective analysis of poultry trading data from 2003 through 2011 to assess the risk of H5N1 poultry infection in an importing country. We found that the risk of infection in an importing country increased by a factor of 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1-1.5) for every 10-fold increase in live chickens imported from countries experiencing at least one H5N1 poultry case during that year. These results suggest that the risk in a particular country can be significantly reduced if imports from countries experiencing an outbreak are decreased during the year of infection or if biosecurity measures such as screening, vaccination, and infection control practices are increased. These findings show that limiting trade of live chickens or increasing infection control practices during contagious periods may be an important step in reducing the spread of H5N1 and other emerging avian influenza viruses
Isolation, identification and culture of the marine rotifer Colurella adriatica Ehrenberg, 1831 (Family: Lepadellidae) from Andaman & Nicobar Islands: A promising live feed for larval rearing of high value shellfishes and finfishes
An extremely small rotifer was isolated from the micro zooplankton
samples collected during February, 2014 from Havelock islands of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The species was identified as Colurella
adriatica Ehrenberg, 1831 (Family: Lapadellidae). Its lorica length under
culture period ranged from 47.530 to 98.868 μm and width from
34.308 to 56.277 μm. The size of the eggs, neonates and adults are
also documented. Comparison of size of C. adriatica with Brachionus
plicatilis (L type) and B. rotundiformis (S and SS type) revealed that
C. adriatica is smaller in length and width than the SS-type rotifer which
is currently used as a first feed in marine tropical fish larval rearing.
However, the larvae of many marine food fishes including groupers and
high value marine ornamental fishes are unable to consume the SS-type
rotifers as a first feed due to their extremely small mouth gape. The
culture of C. adriatica was carried out using Nannochloropsis oculata
Diet-I), N. oculata and yeast (0.01g/litre) (Diet-II), Yeast (0.01g/litre)
alone (Diet-III). Average population density of C. adriatica with these
diets reached a maximum of 1000 nos. of individuals /ml on 10th day
of culture on feeding with Diet-I; 950 nos. /ml on 14th day (Diet-II) and
650 nos. /ml on 15th day of culture (Diet-III). Diet I &II and Diet II &III
did not show any significant difference (P>0.05) whereas, Diet I and III
showed significant difference (P<0.01). Preliminary studies of
C. adriatica as a feed to the larvae of Stenopus hispidus, Lysmata
amboinensis and Pomacentrus caeruleus showed better survival than
larvae fed with B. routundiformis during first phase of larval rearing
Utilizing Dental Electronic Health Records Data to Predict Risk for Periodontal Disease
Periodontal disease is a major cause for tooth loss and adversely affects individuals' oral health and quality of life. Research shows its potential association with systemic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and social habits such as smoking. This study explores mining potential risk factors from dental electronic health records to predict and display patients' contextualized risk for periodontal disease. We retrieved relevant risk factors from structured and unstructured data on 2,370 patients who underwent comprehensive oral examinations at the Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN, USA. Predicting overall risk and displaying relationships between risk factors and their influence on the patient's oral and general health can be a powerful educational and disease management tool for patients and clinicians at the point of care
IMPROVED FINGERPRINT COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE WITH DECIMATED MULTI-WAVELET COEFFICIENTS FOR LOW BIT RATES
In this paper, a multi-wavelet transform with decimated frequency bands is proposed to be used in the Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm to improve fingerprint image compression. Either shuffled or unshuffled multi-wavelets can be used for SPIHT algorithm. In both the cases, the quality of the compressed images at lower bit rates either remained the same or slightly improved compared to wavelets. To improve the performance at lower bit rates, a method which utilizes the decimated version of multi-wavelet for the initialization of lists in SPIHT algorithm is used. The multi-wavelet used for the proposed work is SA4 (Symmetric-Antisymmetric). The algorithm was tested and verified using NIST, Shivang Patel, NITGEN and other databases. An overall improvement in performance particularly at lower bit rates (0.01 to 0.09) compared to a multi-wavelet without decimation was obtained using this method. The improvement was 0.798dB, 0.857dB and 0.859dB for the images in NITGEN database for a multi-wavelet decimated by 2, 4 and 8 respectively. Similar performances were observed for other databases. It was further observed that the PSNR was highest when the multi-wavelet was decimated by a factor of 4
Partial replacement of fish oil by soybean oil on lipid distribution and liver histology in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) juveniles
A 12-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of fish oil replacement by soybean oil, on lipid distribution and liver histology of two commercially important finfish species: rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Sea bass (16.2 +/- 0.5 g; mean +/- SD) and rainbow trout (52.1 +/- 0.5 g) juveniles were fed one of three isonitrogenous (500 g kg(-1) CP) and isoenergetic (19 kJ g(-1)) diets, containing 0% (control, diet A), 25% (diet B) and 50% (diet C) soybean oil. At the end of the experiment, lipid deposition was evaluated in muscle, liver and viscera. Cholesterol and triglycerides levels were also determined in plasma. Tissue total, neutral and polar lipid composition (g kg(-1) total lipids) showed no significant differences within species, regardless the dietary treatment. The same trend was observed for plasma parameters (P > 0.05). Viscera were the preferential tissue of lipid deposition, with 252-276 and 469-513 g kg(-1) total lipid content in trout and sea bass, respectively. Dietary fish oil replacement had no effect on either hepatic lipid droplets accumulation or degree and pattern of vacuolization in the observed liver sections. These data suggest that both sea bass and trout can be fed diets containing up to 50% soybean oil without adverse effects on tissue lipid composition or liver histology
Observations on Lab-lab constituents in brackishwater ponds at Cochin
A study has been conducted during April-October 1991, to findout the different constituents of
Lab-Lab Present in four brackishwater aquaculture ponds. The Lab-Lab present in the culture systems were
mainly composed of blue green algae Oscillatoria sp. P honnidium sp, Lyngbya sp, Spirulina sp, and diatoms
Pleurosigma sp, Navicual sp, Amphora sp, Coscinodiscus sp, and micro fauna aopepod, amphipod, polychaete worms and lameli branch spat
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