The effect of very low-calorie diets on renal and hepatic outcomes : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Properties of pedestrians walking in line: Stepping behavior

In human crowds, interactions among individuals give rise to a variety of self-organized collective motions that help the group to effectively solve the problem of coordination. However, it is still not known exactly how humans adjust their behavior locally, nor what are the direct consequences on the emergent organization. One of the underlying mechanisms of adjusting individual motions is the stepping dynamics. In this paper, we present first quantitative analysis on the stepping behavior in a one-dimensional pedestrian flow studied under controlled laboratory conditions. We find that the step length is proportional to the velocity of the pedestrian, and is directly related to the space available in front of him, while the variations of the step duration are much smaller. This is in contrast with locomotion studies performed on isolated pedestrians and shows that the local density has a direct influence on the stepping characteristics. Furthermore, we study the phenomena of synchronization -walking in lockstep- and show its dependence on flow densities. We show that the synchronization of steps is particularly important at high densities, which has direct impact on the studies of optimizing pedestrians flow in congested situations. However, small synchronization and antisynchronization effects are found also at very low densities, for which no steric constraints exist between successive pedestrians, showing the natural tendency to synchronize according to perceived visual signals.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Re-inventing the Origins of the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow up: Regis Loisel's 'Peter Pan'

Régis Loisel's Peter Pan (Vents d'Ouest, 1990-2004) is a striking re-formulation of the origins of this mythical character due to its stylistic, narrative and thematic darkness. This article uses Loisel's bande dessinée to examine the potential of comics as an adaptive medium, and the reading process of the comic prequel, two aspects which are productively linked by the concept of the network. 1 draw on Sanders'and Groensteen's uses of the concept in adaptation studies and comics studies respectively, to reflect on both the way that Loisel's bande dessinée is connected to the network of proliferating Peter Pan narratives, and the way in which the comic functions as a network itself, engaging the reader in a translinear and plurivectoral reading. This article first explores how core elements of the well-known Peter Pan narrative are adapted in Loisel's comic, both echoing and contrasting with previous versions as Loisel's bande dessinée engages with and re-formulates the character's textual and visual multiplicities from the network of Peter Pan narratives. This article then draws on Paul Sutton's theorization of the 'dual temporality' of the prequel to reflect on the reading process of Loisel's Peter Pan as a comic prequel that productively uses the nature of a comic as a network, and its potential for translinear and plurivectoral reading. Loisel's Peter Pan engages the reader in an active, retrospective, prospective and anticipatory reading process, in a dynamic of repetition and difference

Real or not? Identifying untrustworthy news websites using third-party partnerships

Untrustworthy content such as fake news and clickbait have become a pervasive problem on the Internet, causing significant socio-political problems around the world. Identifying untrustworthy content is a crucial step in countering them. The current best-practices for identification involve content analysis and arduous fact-checking of the content. To complement content analysis, we propose examining websites? third-parties to identify their trustworthiness. Websites utilize third-parties, also known as their digital supply chains, to create and present content and help the website function. Third-parties are an important indication of a website?s business model. Similar websites exhibit similarities in the third-parties they use. Using this perspective, we use machine learning and heuristic methods to discern similarities and dissimilarities in third-party usage, which we use to predict trustworthiness of websites. We demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach in predicting trustworthiness of websites from a database of News, Fake News, and Clickbait websites. Our approach can be easily and cost-effectively implemented to reinforce current identification methods

Properties of pedestrians walking in line - Fundamental diagrams

We present experimental results obtained for a one-dimensional flow using high precision motion capture. The full pedestrians' trajectories are obtained. In this paper, we focus on the fundamental diagram, and on the relation between the instantaneous velocity and spatial headway (distance to the predecessor). While the latter was found to be linear in previous experiments, we show that it is rather a piecewise linear behavior which is found if larger density ranges are covered. Indeed, our data clearly exhibits three distinct regimes in the behavior of pedestrians that follow each other. The transitions between these regimes occur at spatial headways of about 1.1 and 3 m, respectively. This finding could be useful for future modeling.Comment: 9 figures, 3 table

The experiences of women with polycystic ovary syndrome on a very low-calorie diet

The research was funded by an educational grant from LighterLife. Broom was the Medical Director for LighterLife at the time of the research. Johnson is the Head of Nutrition and Research at LighterLife. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.Peer reviewedPublisher PD